


Dread Curiosities

by INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon



Series: Trellis and Vine [3]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Anal Doggy Style, Anal Fingering, Anal Missionary Style, Anal Sex, Awkward Sexual Situations, Begging, Blindfolds, Body Image, Body Worship, Bring Water, Bullying, Come Shot, Come Swallowing, Consent, Consent All Around, Cunnilingus, Cursing Kink, Dementia, Developing Powers, Developing Relationship, Dom/sub Undertones, Domestic Fluff, Dominance, Doubt, Exhibitionism, Eye Contact, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Femdom, Feral Behavior, Fertility Goddess Powers, First Time, Foot Fetish, Foot Massage, Hades Gives Good Oral, Hades Has A Foot Fetish, Hades is a soft bottom, Hair Kink, Hand Jobs, Honor, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Insecurity, Intense, Intimacy, Justifiable Dread, Kink Exploration, Kink Negotiation, Large Breasts, Long Nose, Long Tongue, Love and trust, M/M, Multiple Sex Positions, Naked Male Clothed Female, Nipple Play, Nontraditional Proposals, Not Quite Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Orgasm Control, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Relationship(s), Pegging, Persephone Ends Up Really Liking It, Persephone Gives Good Head, Persephone isn't sure she's a good top, Porn with Feelings, Post-coital discussions, Praise Kink, Rape Recovery, Realm of Influence, Recovery from self-harm, Rise of the Dread Queen, Rope Bondage, Self-Sacrifice, Senility, Sex Toys, Sexual Fantasy, Siblings, Size Difference, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Strange-form Intimacy, Strip Tease, Submission, Tenderotica, Territoriality, Thirst-inducing Smut, Truth, Vaginal Fingering, Vibrators, Voyeurism, honor bondage, sexual awakening, talking about sex, world-building, wrath - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:07:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 77,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon/pseuds/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon
Summary: The sequel to Wick'd - can be enjoyed on its own, but does continue themes and sequences from Wick'd.Persephone and Hades are growing in their relationship; but Vines and Trellises sometimes take a few iterations to find exactly what works best in a developing garden....
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus)
Series: Trellis and Vine [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676242
Comments: 237
Kudos: 274





	1. The Foreword, which is to say: The Aftermath, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> We're baaaaaaaack...! 
> 
> Dread Curiosities will, for the most part, be a rather long-form and mostly-fun kink exploration fic. Persephone has a lot of thoughts to process, a lot of things to learn and analyze, and Hades is just the guy to be her experimental plaything of sorts.
> 
> But - obviously, this entire scenario of multi-kink and multi-level explorations in the bedroom of the Big Blue Dork is only possible with the arc established and resolved in Wick'd - namely, that Hades, at Persephone's command and permission, beat Apollo to a golden-dripping pulp, and EVERYONE knows now that the purple bastard raped Persephone, and that she's making a new life for herself with Hades. Major plot points that make *this* particular work possible include:
> 
> Persephone is taking an extended sabbatical from University; she is still working her internship at Underworld Corps, however.  
> Persephone is essentially ex-post-facto'd out of TGOEM, because she flat-out isn't a maiden anymore (I'm not looking too deeply into this, call it a cop-out if you like, but basically, we're here for clever smexies with the Kang-n-Quayn, and that's all that matters for this fic).  
> Persephone has been "living with" Hades for about 2 weeks now, and they have been sharing a bed and a building (kinda theoretical) sexy relationship for about a week.  
> Hades experienced/es blood-lust of a major caliber after a Titanic episode like he went through to give Persephone her justice from Apollo.  
> Hades has had 49 previous sexual/romantic partners, mostly men, but is discovering that he's never really been able to be entirely himself - a veeeery soft bottom who loves anal penetration any way he can get it.  
> Hades has stated upfront that he does not prefer riding on top, or "working too hard for his pleasure" - he's a bit of a pillow princess, given the choice.  
> Hades is willing to try healthier coping mechanisms with Persephone's help; Persephone ADORES taking care of Hades; Hecate knows this, and wingmans the two of them whenever possible to make that happen.  
> Persephone knows she's becoming the Queen of the Underworld in her own right; Hades knows she's destined to rule beside him, and is dealing with a lot of internal conflict between his normal personality and his King-self's needs.
> 
> With all of that in mind, there's a lot of room for me to play with these two Dorks in Love. Some angst will be warranted; some continued themes of trauma recovery for both Hades and Persephone are also in the works. 
> 
> Warnings will be provided for the specifics of every chapter, as always. Additionally, if the main work tags begin to get too many and overwhelming, I'll begin breaking this up into shorter segments to keep things manageable. 
> 
> Please read all front-notes and tags for every update; things will progress from rather innocent kinkiness to more hardcore kinks and scenarios down the line. 
> 
> Consider this the "try everything because you never know what you like until you try it" fic for Persedes....
> 
> It's gonna be hot. It's gonna be longass. It's gonna bring the feels....
> 
> Let's go....
> 
> *Edited on 15 April 2020 - I realized I put a typo in my note here. Hades has been with 49 partners - 32 men, 17 women - not 39. My bad. The error has been corrected....*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This particular opening requires us to run the gamut of recon and recovery. Hence, themes within deal with:
> 
> Continued processing of loss of control and too much power.  
> Personality splits (again, they're not human, and it's not exactly a mental health issue, it's world-building, work with me, please)  
> Uncertainty after sexual encounters  
> Heavy thinking about The Future (caps intended)  
> Processing through emotional growth and relationship-building  
> Anxiety about vulnerability/nakedness
> 
> Slightly heavier issues in the next chapter, but this is the way the Muses said we should start.

Persephone’s hand slipped on the knob as she turned off the shower’s steaming spray, throwing a throbbing pain up her wrist as her tendons reacted to the sudden jerking motion. Thankfully, the textured handle of the shower door itself was a little more forgiving. She stepped onto the plushy mat just outside the lip of metal separating the tile within and the tile without the glass enclosure, wriggling her toes in the steam-warmed shag as she scrubbed the navy-dark towel over her skull. Her eyes met those of her reflection in the fogged mirror, and she couldn’t help but smile.

There she was, naked but for a towel, in her lover’s bathroom….

_And it feels right…._

It was closing in on ten in the morning. She’d already fed the pack and let them out to play. A quick check of her phone over a quietly-prepared bowl of oatmeal an hour ago had revealed much-needed updates from both Hecate and Hera.

Hecate’s email had made it clear that neither she nor Hades were expected back in the office before Wednesday (and it was only Saturday, so yay for a five-day weekend), but that Hecate would be in touch with the King Monday afternoon to discuss business matters that perhaps couldn’t wait (booooooo for an interrupted five-day weekend). Hecate had iterated thrice over that, from her own experience, Hades would need that much time to get mentally set again to face the stares and whispers that would be ricocheting all over Tower One and elsewhere for the first couple of weeks following this “Titanic meltdown.”

Hecate had also provided Persephone with Hades’ therapist’s information, should she need to take that initiative. (She was trying to ignore the not-so-subtle document attached to the email with a list of contact information for towing companies and slag retrieval crew foremen.)

Persephone thought she should be bothered more about how Hecate seemed to be _assuming_ Persephone would just take over all of this… recon. She’d nearly snapped Hera’s head off yesterday for assuming and taking actions without leaving things for Persephone herself to decide….

_What’s different? Hera was taking away my choices, doing things **for** me; Hecate is going over Hades’ head, and giving me power over him, if I want to take it off her hands…._

_That’s the difference. Hecate is providing us what Queen-me and King-him both need, intuitively; Hera was projecting her own opinions where they weren’t needed or wanted…._

_Okay. So. I’m okay with Hecate assuming Hades and I are…._

_Well, aren’t we, though? Is there even any point in trying to hide anything anymore?_

_I mean, they don’t need to know we’re lovers to know that he’s my King and I’m becoming his Queen, that **that’s** why he whaled on Apollo for me…._

_…._

_I’ll talk it over with him, but I think the sooner we go public with that side of things, the better. Just get it all out in the open since everything’s been blown far and wide anyway…._

_…._

_Anyway…._

The text message from Hera had been… obviously carefully constructed:

**_Persephone,  
_** **_At your earliest convenience,  
_ ** **_I await the information regarding  
_ ** **_your less-than-supportive experience  
_ ** **_with that clinic.  
_ ** **_I have contacted Hestia and Athena  
_ ** **_regarding the temporary injunction  
_ ** **_we discussed yesterday.  
_ ** **_They will do their best to ensure  
_ ** **_Demeter and Artemis toe the line.  
_ ** **_If there is anything further I can do,  
_ ** **_for you or for Hades,  
_ ** **_please let me know.  
_ ** **_This is my personal cell;  
_ ** **_not even Zeus knows the codes.  
_ ** **_Thank you for allowing me  
_ ** **_to help you, even in these small ways,  
_ ** **_Queen of the Underworld….  
_ ** **_If you think he would like to hear it,  
_ ** **_please let Hades know that  
_ ** **_I don’t think there’s another being  
_ ** **_more deserving of the happiness  
_ ** **_I can feel he’ll have with you;  
_ ** **_and that I only wish it had  
_ ** **_come to him sooner….  
_ ** **_-Hera_ **

_…._

_That last bit makes it sound like there’s more between them than either one of them have said, but…._

_Whatever it is, it’s over. That much is clear. It doesn’t matter…._

_But how in Tartarus did she already…?!_

_No…. Everyone knows, remember, Persephone? You’re the Queen of the Underworld; everyone knows that now…._

She’d washed her bowl and put the remainder of the honey-and-milk-drenched oatmeal in the fridge before heading back through the bedroom to take her shower. She’d smiled broadly as she passed the bed; Hades was still belly-down, legs tangled in the sheets, both arms curled under and around the pillow and his mouth open, drooling on the black almost-silk of the pillowcase. His hair was thoroughly snarled and disheveled, but she thought she’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

He was still naked, after all, even if his too-curvy-for-sense ass and thighs were hidden by the night-shadowed sheets….

_He was naked, and I slept next to him all night, and I didn’t feel afraid, not once…._

In fact, she’d woken to soft snuffles at the gap under the bedroom door from Cerberus, warning her that the pack needed their morning escape for _business_ , at the usual seven-thirty; she’d been all-but-glommed onto Hades’ midriff from his left side, her left leg laid along his own and her right thrown up over his ass, her arms wrapping around the softness of his tummy below his ribs and her nose kinda-sorta buried in the warm space between his ribs and her t-shirt-covered chest. Hades had barely even moved as she extricated herself from her monkey-cling to his smoky-wintry warm-hearth space; she’d gone through the morning routine, albeit a little more slowly and leisurely than she would have if they had anywhere to be….

_It feels nice to not have to **be** anywhere than wherever he is…._

So, here she was, remotely updated, fed, and freshly showered….

_And I forgot to bring any clothes in here…._

_Well, shit._

She ran her fingers through her messy not-quite-curls, checking her hands afterward to make sure no loose ends unraveled. She’d trimmed the extra length left over from all the stress yesterday before showering, but she didn’t want to keep shedding for hours if she could avoid it. Satisfied that her wet mop was done being annoying for the foreseeable future, she wrapped the towel around her body and opened the door into the bedroom.

A sky-blue eye peered at her through the dimness filtering around the heavy curtains over the window-wall across the length of the room, half-hidden by messy silver-white hair.

“Morning, sweetness….”

She giggled as Hades shifted a little, turning half onto his left side so he could face her where she stood framed in the doorway to the bathroom. “I didn’t mean to wake you, Hades….”

“S’okay. What time is it?”

“About ten….”

The muscles of his left arm bunched as he bent his elbow, propping his head on the heel of his palm.

“Yeah…? I can’t remember the last time I slept so long, or so well…. Thank you, goddess….”

“Welcome…?”

His voice was still quiet, somewhere just a few levels above his soft-happy tone from her fucking him the evening before. She felt a little out of the loop, uncertain of how to deal with this power she found suddenly, openly, right in her lap.

“I think we said we’d talk, but then I passed out. Do you think we could talk things over now, before I have a chance to avoid you in dreamland once more?”

She tucked her chin against her collarbone and then jutted her jaw in his direction. “I’m in nothing but a towel, Hades.”

“If you’re not comfortable, then apologies, my goddess. Please get dressed, but may I remain as I am for now?”

She eyed him narrowly, unsure what she actually wanted. For one thing, she was already standing in front of him in nothing but the towel; what would be the difference in sitting on the bed with him?

For the other, sitting on the bed in a towel felt… vulnerable….

“I’m getting dressed…. But, um, are you mad?”

“No. I assumed you would be comfortable; I should not have. I’m still a little asleep, maybe, but I didn’t mean to scare you. Please, goddess; yesterday was…. The balance of power is yours, and I wish it to remain so for a long while yet. Please make yourself comfortable.”

A strange pressure flitted down her spine from the base of her neck, fizzling out as it reached the lower edges of her ribs. The resulting empty feeling was… comforting, in an odd way.

“Okay. Thank you, Hades; I didn’t mean to get snippy….”

“No offense taken, my goddess. I wait upon your pleasure.” He smiled, a little more smug than soft, but his voice was still as gentle as she’d ever heard it.

_Well, I must have done something right yesterday; he’s like a completely different person, or the person he always was but complete…._

_Maybe it’s that one…._

_…._

_I like it…._

* * *

His Queen disappeared into the walk-in closet, the quiet rummaging sounds telling him she was hunting through the drawers he’d given over for her use a week ago, when she and he started sleeping in the same bed, his bed….

_And she slept next to me all last night, and I was naked as hell…._

His eyes drifted closed, a slowly-loosed sigh ghosting over his half-smiling lips.

_Definitely should not have assumed that same level of comfort would translate over into the morning, with both of us awake and needing to discuss all of everything…._

_…._

_It’s just a good thing that it seems like Titan-King-me is fully resting now. As long as I don’t have to deal with any more aftershocks from that, I think we can hash over yesterday without tearing open too many scabs._

He shifted his hips under the sheet, twisting slightly so the dense layer of foam cupped his pelvic bones a little more steadily, leaving him perfectly perpendicular to the mattress.

_Gods, I feel great. Haven’t felt this… loose, this relaxed in ages, centuries…._

“Hades, do you need some water or something before we talk?”

His eyelids fluttered up, the haze of only partial wakefulness blurring her form where she stood between the closet and the door into the hall, uncertainty and almost-confidence warring for control of her stance.

“No, I’m alright for now, goddess. Do you feel comfortable sitting with me on the bed now?”

She nodded, padding over the floor. He noted the way her feet arched in their wooly house-socks, and made a note to ask her if she wanted some throw-rugs to help tamp down the chill.

He tried to ignore the way the floofiness of the socks only made her already-tiny feet seem that much more dainty, and how much _that_ not-quite-ignored realization made him more than half-hard with no effort at all.

_She’s not the only one who needs to explore some curiosities…._

He pushed and pulled his body up from his lounging relaxation, folding his legs and tucking the sheet around and behind his hips as he spun to face her. She mirrored him, both of them peeking at the other beneath straggling locks of hair, squaring off across the no-man’s-land of the middle of his bed.

“Goddess, I think it might be best if we talked about the sex first? What do you think?”

She twisted her fingers in the wrinkles of fabric over her crossed shins; her capri-length fleecy pants and fitted camisole top were pale-cream against the brightness of her magenta skin. “I suppose, but it’s not exactly sex, what we did…?”

“Why not? There was shared intimacy, penetration even, and climax. Sounds like a bare-bones definition of sex to me….” He smirked, carefully cataloguing the way she seemed hesitant to agree. “Persephone, sweetness, do you regret yesterday evening? Do you regret pegging me?”

Her eyes flew wide open as her head jerked up on a suddenly tense neck. “No! No, I don’t regret that, but….”

“Honesty and blunt talk, Persephone; we can’t understand each other if we’re hiding from ourselves to start with….”

“…. I can’t help but wonder if people would think we’re messed up, because _that_ was what we did for our first time together!”

He chuckled, thrilled by the spark of defiance that lit her eyes at his hinted humor. “First thing, Persephone, it was hardly our first time, remember? That was last week, technically; and if anyone who dared to find out what we do in the privacy and sanctuary of our home and then even so much as hinted we were, what, _not normal_ , just say the word and I’d give them a better reason to think that….”

The lines of her face shifted, becoming sharper, more lethal; the coiled arousal that he hadn’t realized was only sleeping just beneath the surface flared bright inside his abdomen and around his heart, answering her not-quite-violent response. The Queen he was destined to spend eternities with lifted her upper lip to bare glistening white teeth, a snarled hiss of breath marking the end of his promise, and the King he had always been found a new home in her menacing whisper of claim:

“Count on that, my King….”


	2. The Foreword, which is to say: The Aftermath, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Always, Warnings First:
> 
> Open discussion of kinks, needs, desires, and hypothetical situational kink negotiation  
> Metaphysical hyper-lust (you'll know it when you see it)  
> Almost loss of control due to the above (absolutely no dub-con, I swear, Titan's Honor!)  
> Kinda-sorta really sudden maturation of a certain cinnamon roll's confidence  
> Some self-hate and self-masochism
> 
> Y'all may be freaking out at the above warnings. Please trust a Swoonie - there are feels, and there are fears, but I promise you that everything works out at the end of this chapter. 
> 
> I promised y'all in Wick'd that Hades would never hurt Persephone. He doesn't. 
> 
> But King-self Hades kinda... almost steps over a line in this one. 
> 
> I swear on all things Persedes, this was always part of my plan since I began working with this budding situation in Wick'd. And I swear to all you lovelies, I will never write a darkfic for Persedes. I promise, this all works out. There is no domestic violence; there is no dubious consent or non-consent - heavens fukken forbid. 
> 
> But it does get a little intense in the final scene. 
> 
> You have been warned. Please trust a Swoonie and don't give up on me now....
> 
> The Muses insisted weeks ago, and I must obey my headspace friends....

_“Count on that, my King….”_

Persephone felt the words leave her mouth on a hissing whisper of venom, and she lurched backward, eyes wide and hands flying to hover before her lips.

“Oh, gods, Hades, I don’t know if that’s something I should be allowing to happen right now! I don’t want to mess you up, or go too far; um, can we forget I even… did… that…?”

She saw the effort it took for Hades to snap out of the grip his King-self was exerting over his mind; by the way he hunched over his lap a little, his stomach muscles trembling-tight, his King-self wasn’t only paying attention with his mind…. “I can’t forget, but I can ignore it for now….” His voice was tight, too, the soft-happy all but gone, and she felt a little dizzy at the violent shifts in emotion from the last fifteen minutes, if it had even been that long….

“Need a minute?”

“Yes, please.”

She stared toward the open door of the closet, busying her mind with thinking over how many more outfits she should attempt to gather to supplement her wardrobe. She was honestly considering keeping only what Eros had helped her find over the last couple of weeks and maybe burning the _other_ items, the ones tainted by memories of disgusting purple hands and yellow-glaring violence.

Her musings on material goods filtered out into calmly patient silence as she felt Hades’ tension bleed away, felt him relax a little into the mattress across from her. She turned her face carefully back to his, one eyebrow high in question.

“Thank you, Persephone; I’m better now. Okay; so, you don’t regret pegging me, you were worried about what people might think. Are you still?”

She smiled, ducking her chin to her collarbone: sheepish as she realized how silly that had been. “No, you were right, it doesn’t matter what they think; if it works for us, that’s all that matters.”

“Precisely, goddess. Okay, so, I would like to tell you that I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever come so fucking hard as I did last night. If I did, I don’t remember it. Thank you, Persephone, for being the best fuck of my existence.”

She cackled as he beamed at her, burying her face in her hands and laughing until her eyes felt eternally-scrunched and her mouth too-tight for anything but continuing to explode with the giggles. She gasped and finally managed to peek at him between her fingers; he shrugged his shoulders, and she knew he meant something like _it’s only the truth_.

A blush flared across her palm-concealed cheeks, racing down her neck and beneath the cottony softness of her camisole tank-top. The warmth forced her hands from her face, and she tried to keep from looking away in embarrassment.

“You’re welcome, Hades.”

It was his turn to explode with laughter then, and she turned completely around on the bed to face the window wall, trying to keep from following him down that dangerous slope into rib-cracking glee….

* * *

He gasped, swiping tears from his eyes, looking up at her profile where she stared toward the window wall and the floor-length dark-velvet curtains; half-lit by the diffuse grey-blue glow of Underworld’s twilit morning, her magenta skin was stunningly Other, a stoically-resisting clench in her jaw casting shadows in the hollow of her closer cheek, at the corner of her eye, the dip above her chin. He melted into the mattress, releasing his gasp in a sigh as she turned to face him, playful-disapproval of his minutes-long laughing spell twinkling in her eyes.

“You okay down there, Majesty?”

He nodded, propping his head in his left palm again as he shifted on the mattress. “Maybe I should stay down here for a while yet; seems I’m not quite ready to sit up….”

Her composure nearly broke, and he choked on another giggle, too. “Fine then. Okay. So, you and I both agree that the pegging was good, right?”

“Better than good, sweetness.”

“Okay. So, I think I’d like to make that a regular thing for a while, get used to that….”

“That is more than fine with me. We can continue to take things at whatever pace is most comfortable and accommodating for your needs. Please know that I am ready for new ideas whenever you are; I don’t think there’s actually anything you could suggest that I wouldn’t be amenable to trying for you, with you.”

“Careful, Hades: a blanket allowance like that, I might surprise you….” He stopped breathing when she winked at him, saucy, irreverent, perfection itself. “Can I ask a few questions, though, just… a few things I’ve started noticing….”

“Sure, always.”

“Okay. Um, are you actually an exhibitionist? Like, you _like_ showing off, putting on a show?”

“To an extent; I’m not going to go out and pole dance at the club for the eyes of the masses. I more prefer to give my partner the pleasure of seeing me, um, trusting them with my body. I mean, obviously the scars are visible, and… well, it was actually my first partner who started me on this path. He was – ”

“Wait! Your very first was a guy!?”

“Uh huh….”

“…. I want to hear that story sometime, if that’s okay, Hades? Like, is that wrong? Would that be invading his privacy?!”

“Easy, goddess; you’re not the first woman to be shocked to learn that about me. He gave me permission a dozen partners ago to share that whenever I need to.”

“Oh…. Over lunch?”

He laughed again, curling into a fetal position on his side as his muscles contracted painfully. “Sure, eager minx, whatever you need!”

She waited for him to look into her wide-opened eyes again before she whispered, “Minx…?”

“Oh…. Um, sorry, you don’t like that one?”

Her head tilted to her left shoulder, her slowly drying hair floofing in clumps over the crown of her head. “It’s…. It’s different. Let me think about it for a while; but anyway, so, you just like the intimacy of being able to be naked with your partner?”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s the best way to say it. I…. I’m not blind, most of the time: I know I’ve got the eye-candy factor going for me. But I make it a point to reserve that for the one person I’m in a relationship with at the time. It’s…. It’s a way of letting my partner know I’m devoted to them, that I’m not like my brother, that I’m faithful.”

“So, you’re not exactly shy about your body? I kinda thought you were, you’re always bundled up in layers and layers!”

“That’s the public me. There’s something fun about having the real me come out when the clothes come off when I finally get home….” He winked at her, gratified to see the blush darken her cheeks.

“Okay. So, um, I…. I think I’m a voyeur….”

“Uh huh.”

“…. You knew?!”

“Goddess, I knew when you said you _liked seeing my reactions_. I knew, and I was excited, count on it. I like the idea of showing off for you, and while I may not be the traditional exhibitionist by definition, we’ve already proven we can do what we want, and hang the definitions, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, definitely. Okay, so, if I asked you to do some things some times, you would?”

“Yep…. I will officially give you my word, Persephone, Goddess of Spring, that anything you wish to see me do, I will attempt to fulfill your desires. And if, for any reason, I was uncomfortable, I agree to talk it out with you, and we can attempt to find a solution that will work for both of us….”

She smiled. “So formal, my King….” He closed his eyes and bowed his head once, as much as he could while laying prone on his left side, at least. “Okay. But that does bring up another question. What if there is something I might want, that is just a no-go for you?”

“…. Is there something you’re already thinking of?”

“No, not at the moment, but what if…?”

“Okay. If, Cosmos forbid, there was something you wanted that I just could not see myself ever giving to you, I… I suppose I would say that we could look into options outside of you and me only….”

“…. What?”

“I mean, theoretically, open up the possibility of you finding what you needed in that instance with someone else.”

They stared at each other; he could see she hadn’t even considered that to be an option. “Hades, I don’t think I could ever do that to you…. I mean, if it was something I wanted, I would be wanting it _from_ you, or _with_ you, not just to have it, you see what I mean?!”

“I do; and again, Persephone, I really don’t think there’s anything you could suggest that I would be completely averse to trying from the start. I’m a pretty curious guy myself; even if it was something I’d never tried before, I would still _want_ to try it _for_ you, _with_ you, because it was you asking, you see?”

She nodded, her shoulders relaxing as she reached for his right hand with both of her own. “I think I was panicking for no reason; sorry. I think it just scared me that you thought I was already thinking about looking for other partners?!”

“No, I only meant that, in the event of, it’s not necessarily off the table. I think I meant that anything you needed or wanted, even to that extent, I’d be willing to entertain the possibility.”

Her thumbs brushed over his knuckles, and her smile was a breath of petal-wafted sunshine as she sighed in relief. “You’re so good to me, Hades…. I…. I’m so grateful we found each other….”

His heart twisted and squirmed in his chest with the sincerity she so obviously felt. “Me, too, sweetness, goddess mine….”

He bent his elbow, her hands on his following as he brought them to his lips for a gentle kiss to their wrapped-tight fingers.

“Oh, um, that reminds me, Hades. I…. I think we should go, um, public, with the fact that I’m basically the Queen of the Underworld. I mean, everybody’s gonna know after yesterday, but it just seems like we shouldn’t let rumors do most of the talking for us, you know what I mean?”

He had started nodding when she said _go public_ , but the next line stopped his head and his mind together. “…. How would everyone know after yesterday?!”

“The word’s going to get around, Hades, that you took my justice at my command, that I watched you while you did!”

He thrashed up to his knees, hands fisted in the mattress as he hunted the answers in her eyes. “But how does that equate to _everyone knowing_ you’re Underworld’s Queen, sweetness? That makes no sense, what am I missing?!”

“Hades, they saw me: your brothers, TGOEM, Apollo…. They _saw_ me!”

“And?!”

Her eyes narrowed before slowly widening once more. “You…. Oh, _you_ didn’t see….”

“See what?!”

He tried to keep his voice down, but something in her hedging responses set his King-self’s teeth on edge. Something about her that others had seen, that told them she was his?! He had to know, had to see, and she was playing coy, intentionally or not. He twisted the sheets tighter beneath his fingers, trying to bleed away the tension that made no sense, that didn’t feel like him, that scared him with how it would scare her if she felt it….

“Hades, my, um, isn’t it called a primal form? I was all powered-up, too, didn’t really come down from it until we got ready to come back home. You and I, together, side-by-side, both of us in our ultimate wrathful forms and not tearing each other apart with the territoriality…. I may be young, but I know that much is clear as daylight: the fact that we existed like that and worked to the same end, the same goal…. And that I, you know, kind of commanded you….”

His heart skipped a few beats as she explained, and then he was nearly drooling as it rocketed back to muscle-car speed and power in his chest. “ _I need to see you…._ ”

She leaned a little away from him, and he fought hard with his King-self to back down the intensity pouring out of him; everything King-him wanted was too much, but darkness and dread, he craved the image of her in primal power like water, like blood, like lust….

“I can’t quite control it, I don’t think. But maybe I could show you, um, with the mind-talking thing we’ve got…?”

He nodded, rapidly moving beyond words. She smiled, seeming eager to please him with this, in this way, and then her bright-light touch teased along the fringes of his mind. He _reached_ out to her, opening barriers he hadn’t known were wrapped around his inner Self, allowing her entry and beckoning her closer.

He heard a resounding shadow of her voice, felt her intentions as if they were his own. _Okay, so, um, this is what I look like when that happens, Hades, dear._

The image flickered into his conscious awareness, glazing behind his eyes in light and beauty, and he felt something crack in the bedroom, somewhere around them. Need pooled in his groin, burning and surging through his flesh, taking him from semi-hardness to utterly erect in a tightly-hissed breath.

_Mine…!_

His hands left the sheets, his thighs bunched as he started to move toward her, but then the contact between their minds broke apart, splintered like glass, and he saw the flash of fear in her eyes. She leaned away from him, arching backward, her hands half-raised in front of her abdomen, and her lips formed his name without a sound.

The need to defend and protect was an urge not unlike hunger, not unlike thirst, but the knowledge that she was afraid of _him_ scrambled his senses; how could he protect when he was the one causing her to fear!?

He hunched, trembling, on hands and knees before her, and it was simultaneously the most difficult and simplest thing in the world to lower his head to the sheets at her knees, groaning and whimpering as his erection thumped hard against his stomach, painfully and achingly close to the edge of release.

But he knew, somehow, that even if he could have moved to reach a hand beneath his tight-clenched stomach to tend this visceral need, the relief would have been hollow, the satisfaction ill-bought….

He’d made her fear him; he’d broken every promise, and he should suffer for breaking her trust….

The King he had always been thundered with indignation in his mind, and he cringed at the imagined words, the words he could only wish weren’t coming from a part of him, coming from him, in a dark and angry voice that echoed all around him in trickles of burning acid and too-warm flesh-bound walls:

**_She’s yours; take what is yours!_ **

It could have been a sob; it could have been a half-voiced scream:

He buried the undeserving noise in the sheets and prayed she’d leave his bedroom before he lost all control….

_I knew I wasn’t any good; I knew I wasn’t good for her…._

_…._

_I’ll always be his son…._

Tiny fingers brushed along the top of his head, and he shivered, torn between the terrible desire to rise, to finish what he’d not-quite begun, and the need to remain utterly immobile, to give her every control when he was so horribly close to losing his own.

Her voice was somehow all at once whisper-thin and iron-bell-resonant above where he bowed before her in supplication and need:

“I told you: I liked seeing you all powered-up, too….”

He keened, his need only churning higher, thrashing his mind to ribbons as his erection throbbed painfully once more.

“I’m okay, Hades; you didn’t hurt me, you stopped, and I’m so grateful you were strong enough. I know this isn’t how you imagined it, but Queen-me knows what King-you needs. Roll over.”

He did, crying out as the motion echoed painful sensations along his aching flesh.

“It’s just skin and muscle….”

His eyes were squinted shut against the pain, but the tears squeezed past the corners somehow when her fingers and palms wrapped around the base of his shaft; his hips thrashed upward once as she pulled her hands along his length, and then he was coming, spurting hard again and again and again, groaning as she held him just beneath the glans.

She kept her hands on him until he collapsed into the mattress; she laid his subsiding erection along his stomach, wiped her hands on the sheets beside his hip.

He barely managed to open his eyes, meeting her gaze and praying he wouldn’t see what he knew he deserved….

The words had no sound, no breath, no strength, but he needed to say them, had never meant them more.

_I’m sorry…._

She smiled, one corner of her lips higher than the other. “Hades, I know. Um, look, there were bound to be accidents and missteps with us; I mean, two primal-powered gods sharing a really not-traditional sex-life…. We both messed up; I shouldn’t have jumped at the chance to show you that, I could have seen King-you might take that a little far. And maybe you could have asked me not to, but…. I’m okay, and you’re okay now, and we know better…. You didn’t hurt me, and it was my choice to stay and help you. We’re okay, Hades…. I promise, we’re okay….”

He squeezed his eyes shut again, his throat locking up as she laid herself over him, hugging him: _soothing him_ ….

He knew they’d need to talk about this more, but for now, he tried to let himself believe that it was the truth that they really were okay….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Do you all hate me now?
> 
> Please don't let me go....
> 
> This is not the last time Hades and Persephone will deal with their King-self and Queen-self having different, separate needs and desires from their normal personalities. In the tags, I specify kink negotiation - I never said it was only kink negotiation between Hades and Persephone, themselves....
> 
> There's also no universal timetable for recovery from a trauma. 
> 
> Yes, just the night before, Persephone was a little leery of actually touching Hades' genitals.   
> Yes, just this morning, not even an hour before, she was worried about sitting with him in naught but a towel. 
> 
> But Queen-Persephone is stronger than we give her credit for. 
> 
> "It's just skin and muscle...."
> 
> Fair warning: there will be some backsliding from this point. Persephone may hem and haw a little bit before she can bring herself to touch Hades that intimately again. 
> 
> But this had to happen, and it had to happen early....
> 
> This whole situation stemmed from a few factors: Hades trying to cope with his Titanic meltdown differently than he usually does; Persephone being as young and impulsive as a young adult can be; them not really being able to talk more thoroughly the night before; a whole lotta emotional everything in the last 24 hours. 
> 
> Meltdowns tend to spawn further issues, in my experience. I had to let this run its organic path, and this is where we end up.
> 
> But I promise, this is the worst of it for a while. From here, we move directly into more innocent exploration games, albeit still with the overtones of Hades' uncertainties and Persephone's maturation. 
> 
> And yes, there will be plot regarding her blossoming role as the Queen of the Underworld. This particular arc has been done a few different ways in various fics on this site; you may notice similarities, but I will endeavor to slap the Swoonie-spin on it as best I can to make it fresh. This is the first time I'll be playing with this particular aspect of the early Persephone-as-Queen arc, and I'm looking forward to it!
> 
> Feel free to be honest in the comments as always, dear ones. I know this may not have been what you were expecting, but I hope I didn't break anyone too badly....
> 
> (And, yes, the end game is to have Hades and Persephone do the smang in their primal forms. I mean, come on, I gotta.... So, there will obviously be a growth arc stemming from this failed and emotionally-broken scene, for both our Dorks in Love.... Trust a Swoonie, all things happen for a reason....)


	3. The First Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Within we have themes of : 
> 
> Misunderstandings, talking past each other (stemming from anxiety), and open dialogue to resolve said issues.  
> Hints of issues with self-esteem.  
> Increasing levels of Feet Kink - heh heh, I can't resist....  
> Some dominance/submission/control undertones.
> 
> After the previous chapter's slight confusions, I feel I should mention that I tend to view the comment sections on my fics as a necessary dialogue with readers. I appreciate those of you that were open about the points and sections that gave you trouble - and while some feel edits might (or might not, we've got people on both sides of the issue here) be necessary to clarify the confusion over "King/Queen-self vs normal-self" in the previous chapter, I am confident that further chapters will provide more depth and clarification. I may return and craft an "alternate" Chapter 2 if things are still off-putting down the line, but otherwise, I encourage you lovelies to not only read previous-written comments, but to let me know if you're having trouble. 
> 
> I have stated before that I don't really ask anyone for beta. More than eight months of writing fic at this point has only yielded one chapter that garnered multiple comments mentioning genuine confusion. I think that track record holds up....
> 
> So, once more, the door is open for your honest feedback, and I thank you for it in advance. 
> 
> Have a world-built feels-full Hades' first time story, buried amidst drama-angst-and-growth....

Hades finished scrubbing the skillet, rinsing away the suds and traces of sautéed vegetables, wishing the steaming water would cleanse away the hollowness around his heart.

_I still can’t even believe I…._

_I have **never** needed like that. I’ve never even considered anything that fast, rough, wrong…._

Persephone sipped her lemonade at the kitchen table, and though the silence hovering over them wasn’t tense by any stretch of imagination, he couldn’t quite piece it together.

How could they be okay after that?!

He maneuvered the dripping steel onto the towel, settling it as gently as possible to avoid nicking the rim or clanking against the bowls and platters beneath. Swiping his hands dry on the edge of the towel where it hung over the lip of the counter, he turned to the table, walking slowly, treading carefully. He needed to do everything he could to keep from giving her any further reason to fear him.

He settled back into his chair at the table, across from her, folding his arms onto the gleaming mahogany surface and slowly raising his eyes to meet hers.

“Persephone, can we talk… about…?”

“Of course.” Her eyes were honest on his, and he couldn’t believe it, couldn’t understand it.

_How is she so calm?! Is she in shock…?_

“I guess it’s pretty obvious that I’m a lot more messed up than either of us knew, goddess. I’m so sorry; I never knew I was capable of such… such a beastly…. I’m so sorry….” His voice broke, and try as he might, he couldn’t force out any further sound but whimpers. His eyes fell to the swirled grain of the tabletop, refusing to let her think he was angling for pity. He didn’t deserve pity….

“Hades, I know you, normal-you, could never do anything to hurt me. And, need I remind you, you didn’t hurt me…. King-you got super turned on by seeing my primal form, and like I said, we both probably could have seen that coming, but I guess I, at least, got caught up in _wanting_ you to see that side of me. I mean, it’s not even the first time it’s happened… around… you. Oops.” He peered up at her, confused again. “Um. When you put Tori’s eye back in…. I peeked….”

His mind immediately recalled the image she’d given him through their strangely-powerful telepathic link: wings of boughs, leaves of hemlock and laurel sprouting miraculously from arching oak-fingered branches; scaled rondels of ivy and rue capping her shoulders; thorned vines descending from writhing locks of shadowed-under magenta hair, pricking her skin and forcing ichor from her veins even as they coiled protectively, shielding her and turning her into a weapon of dark-gleaming Life….

“My jacket…. To cover the….”

“Yeah, my silly shoulders and stuff…. I’m really not sure what that’s about, but…. Anyway, yeah, I peeked, and…. I actually started reading up on what little I could find on the internet about primal forms a couple of days after that. That’s how I think I started putting together that you and I are supposed to be together, that I’m safe with you, because I didn’t even feel the territorial thing all the literature says a god feels when faced with another embracing their deepest powers. But it didn’t really come totally clear to me until I was here, with you, these last couple of weeks….”

He nodded, fitting it together. _Still not enough, though…._ “Persephone, that still doesn’t excuse what I almost did.”

“You didn’t hurt me. It did scare me, there was a really… dark look in your eyes right in that moment, but you snapped out of it, I saw you. And Hades, look, I know you were hurting….”

He winced, the remembered pain of too-sudden desperation making his knees tremble beneath the edge of the table. “You weren’t ready for anything like that; I should have just let it fade on its own.”

“…. You think you need to be punished for getting horny?”

“Sweetness, that was so far beyond simple horniness I don’t think there’s even a word for it!” He was convinced now; she didn’t understand, she must be in shock, she needed to see!

“Hades, look. If I hadn’t told you to roll over, if I hadn’t helped you come, what would you have done?”

He answered her before he could think. “I’d have sat there and gritted my teeth and when it was over, I’d have begged your forgiveness.”

“You wouldn’t have hurt me.” He stared at her; she was right, absolutely, but it couldn’t be this simple…. “You would not have used me to sate your desire. You would have dealt with it, albeit in maybe a not-so-healthy way. You shouldn’t hate yourself, let yourself hurt like that, because you feel a desire. Think of it like your fantasy…. Your King-self has this ultimate fantasy of bedding me, us both in primal form, you think?”

His overworked cock twitched at the thought; he flinched, clenching a hand over his trembling abdomen. His lunch threatened to reappear with the wave of dizziness as his veins pulsed, ichor racing, unable to fulfill the call of his lust in his tender flesh. “Okay, yeah. Fantasy, sure, we can call it that.”

“But you wouldn’t have acted on it, not to the point of hurting me or using me. It was my choice to help you with that…. I don’t know if I could, like, do it again without the urgency being there anytime soon, but…. It was my choice, Hades, and you didn’t even ask. You told me before you would never ask for something you could do without. You proved that to the utmost today…. I can’t say it’s how I imagined the first time of me touching your cock, but I don’t regret it…. We got through it, and that’s what matters….”

His emotions were wrung near dry, but still, from somewhere, tears filmed over his eyes. “Okay…. If you’re sure, then I… I won’t beat myself up over it. What do you want to do, where do you want to go, from this?”

“I think I’m still okay with pegging being the main thing, and seeing where things develop from that. And we do still need to talk about how to go public with me becoming the Queen, you know. But for right now, is there something we could do that’s not so… well, so raw and intense? You mentioned you might be willing to tell me about your first time…. Is that too emotional a story?”

“Not really, I mean, of course there were emotions, it was my first time, but overall, it’s actually one of my happier stories….”

She smiled, rising from the chair. “Good! I’m going to get some tea, and grab some Pack-snacks, and we can go sit on the couch. You could hold Pommie, and I’ll brush Russell again, he might still be a little matted from the mud earlier.”

A few minutes later, they were arranged on the couch as she’d said they would be. The peanut butter-flavored crackers were balanced in their baggie on the top of the couch, where both he and Persephone could reach to keep the dogs quiet for a while, and Pomelia was settled more-than-happily in his lap. The tiny dog’s warmth was beyond soothing to his sore crotch, and he sighed as Persephone flung her feet onto the couch beside him.

She’d taken off her fluffy socks, and he noticed for the first time the black polish she’d painted onto her toes.

_Oh gods, that’s incredible…._

“Hades?”

He snapped his gaze away from her toes. _Dammit, stop blushing, you creepy pervert!_

“Yes, sweetness?!” _Oh gods, I’m squeaking?!!?!!?_

“…. You like my feet…?”

“ _Mmmmmmhrnk!_ ”

She smiled, and _pointed her toes_ his direction, stretching as if she could span the inches separating her from his thigh. “I painted my nails; it seemed, you know, fitting….”

“Oh goddess, more than, do you want to scoot closer?!”

She laughed, and he held his breath as she shuffled across his couch, her toes finally making nerve-blazing contact with his navy trackpants. The breath rushed out of him and he felt the blush spreading down his neck. His cock remained limp, but that was fine, he didn’t think he had it in him anyway.

“Hades, you maybe should breathe, dear….”

He tried, oh he tried, but it certainly seemed like air had become nonexistent for a little while as she kneaded his thigh with tiny black-painted toes….

* * *

_I honestly would not have expected that…. It’s such a silly thing to find attractive, but gods, if he doesn’t look like he could worship my feet!_

_…._

_Would he…?_

_…._

_Would I like him to…?_

_…._

_Never know if ya don’t ask…._

“Hades, you breathing yet…?” Glazed over eyes met hers, and she smiled, showing him she wasn’t creeped out. She was starting to pick up on certain things, tells and hints to his reactions when they talked about intimate things. There was a specific way his eyebrows would sort of _sink_ if he was feeling embarrassed or thinking he would offend her if she really knew what he was thinking. He’d had that same expression when he’d first brought up the pegging, but her enthusiastic response had wiped it from his face, leaving only happy wonder in its place.

The same thing was happening here, even if it was a little more visceral, more raw.

_And here we’d said this was supposed to keep us from getting worked up again…. Oops._

“So, you like feet…. Maybe we can play with that soon; you’re allowed to have curiosities, too, you know….”

He swallowed, a smile washing away the half-forged shame as he brought one hand from Pomelia’s back to lightly touch the middle of the arch of her foot with his wide fingertip, barely resting his digit on her skin. “I was thinking earlier about how I could ask you, and then here you go, figuring me out from the start. Goddess, you truly have a gift….” His voice was husky; he cleared his throat, trying not to jostle Pommie on his lap as his body spasmed a little. “Okay, so, my first time. Are you ready for the story?”

“Yes, please!” She bent over the edge of the cushions, grabbing Russell up around the middle and plopping him to her lap as she crossed her legs, tucking her feet out of sight. Hades followed her movements, the lightest hint of longing tugging at the corners of his eyes, but he recovered admirably as she settled in to brushing through Russell’s barely-dry fur with the wire-toothed face of the brush.

“Well, goddess, it was quite the long time ago. I’d say…. It must have been about three hundred years after I established the Underworld as a proper Realm….”

* * *

_I approached the circle of firelight, my eyes down and my single-stranded coronet weighty on my brow. I couldn’t imagine they’d be comfortable with their King, their employer, in their midst for an evening of carousing and drinking and general revelry and fun, but I’d made up my mind to give it my best try._

_This wasn’t all of them, not by a long Parthian bow-shot, but this was the camp where his crew was most likely to be found. It was my best chance to find him in a non-official setting; and darkness, I hoped I wasn’t wrong…._

_I nodded graciously as a horn-mug was thrust at my chest; the ale was strong, not quite to my taste, but I took a hearty gulp anyway before passing it to a woodworker as I melded my way deeper into the crowd encircling the stone-bordered bond-fire. A few of the craftsman and laborers recognized me; of those, some bowed deferentially, to which I waved them back to vertical with a sheepish grin of camaraderie, and others only stared. Those I ignored; better they not worry I’d punish the temerity of their intrigue…._

_I finally made my way around the other side of the bond-fire, and there he was, seated with a group of masons from other crews. He’d changed into a clean tunic and knee-length breeches, loose and flowing above and below, for this impromptu celebration._

_And he should be celebrating, yes indeed; after all, his crew had been instrumental in finishing these first enormous buildings, elegant and powerful as nothing in the realms above could ever be._

_The forces of gravity were stronger here, deep in the earth, and the stoneworkers, carpenters, and artisans I enlisted relished the chance to take on projects and work artisanal magic they’d never have the chance to try elsewhere…._

_I swallowed thickly, the ale singing bittersweet through my veins, false-courage and poignant-hope forcing my feet to continue on even as my heart tried to crash past my spine and run back to my columned-and-portico’d palace far across the valley’s expanse…._

_“May I join you, kind crafters?”_

_A thorough round of hearty welcome spanned their smaller circle of stumps and broken capstones; I took my place at his side, and then my plan failed me…._

_I’d never thought I’d get this far…._

_I drank when the wineskin passed my way; I listened to their chatter, laughing when needed and nodding in sympathy as his companions told stories of truth and wove happy lies of miraculous never-truths. Hours wore on, and still I hadn’t looked at him, nor spoken a word since I begged entry to their grouping…._

_Hours wore on, ground away under my ineptitude, and then someone around the bond-fire brought out a drum. A few pipes began pouring twittering tunes and luscious melodies into the deep of the night, and the rest of these craftsmen around me dashed and tumbled their way to join the more-raucous party that was springing to life in the still-blazing light of the central not-quite-hearth…._

_All the rest, except for him…._

_He shifted on the stone beside the one I’d claimed so foolishly hours ago, looking at me, and what could I do but return his gaze? I’d sought him out, and then panicked, and I still couldn’t think to ask, explain, beg…._

_“Majesty…?”_

_…._

_I should have known that would be all he’d see…._

_I stood, fully intending to leave, but his hand was warm on mine. He stood too, rather than pulling me back down, and I followed him to his cabin. It was far too structured to be called a hut, but it was by no means a house. It was a workman’s space, a place for he and any guests he might choose to invite within, but I could tell it was a temporary thing yet and still…._

_I knew he didn’t intend to stay, but if he would grant me the gift I craved without knowing the words, I’d take all he would offer and be glad of it when he left for the realms above when his work here in my own was complete…._

_His voice was gentle, and his hands softer still. I remember noting that, even through the haze of that first night’s bliss: how could a stone-carver’s hands be so gentle, tender, where they met my skin…?_

_He was warm, and kind, and he took such good care of me. It was him that told me about there being no such thing as too much lubricant; it was he that taught me how to relax, and when to push, and…._

_I do think I cried a little when he pushed inside me, and he almost pulled out, but I think I babbled enough about it feeling so good that he didn’t leave me._

_He was slow, and careful, and I think I loved him that night…._

_…._

_In the morning, he told me about his Arzaeus. Arzaeus had fought in the Titanomachy; but he was only a satyr, and when Titans go to war, any earthbound being is in terrible danger. Arzaeus was killed when an uprooted tree was kicked away by one of my uncle’s feet…._

_Kistos had been a carpenter before; he didn’t want to be one anymore._

_He learned stone-carving from a foreign daemon. He brought his work to the Underworld when I sent out my call for artisans, so he could determine if his Arzaeus had died for nothing._

_He had been judging me, all along, and decided I was not only worth every effort of his chisel, but that I shouldn’t be denied genuine affection and care, as lonely as I so obviously was…._

_His Arzaeus would never have forgiven him, if he’d turned me away at the bond-fire…._

_…._

_He couldn’t love me, but he taught me of love, and every lesson I learned from him I’ve tried to pass on to others._

_Some of the oldest buildings here in Underworld Center still bear his carvings. I make sure to keep tabs when renovations are in the planning stages; I try to preserve the art that those earliest artisans gave to my night-bound realm._

_Kistos always placed a potamoi and a satyr in his carvings as his signature…. I never had to ask; I know it was he and Arzaeus…._

_I like to think the Underworld was built on love, lost and found and carefully maintained by hands meant for worse things…._

_Kistos taught me that even stone can be beautiful if you give it the right attention…._

* * *

Persephone stared at Hades’ face as he fell silent; the brush in her hand hovered over Russell’s shining fur, the boar-hair bristles thickly packed with red-blonde shed. She only gave a half-hearted lunge when the squirming dog made a break for the floor, leaving her cream-colored pants cooling under their liberal coating of fur.

“Hades, that’s….”

He gave her a gentle smile as he bent to let Pommie down off his lap as well. “I know…. Like I said, there are feelings, but overall, it’s a happy story….”

“…. You think you’re stone, that you need to be carved into something beautiful?”

He fixed her with a calmly-exasperated not-quite-glare. “No. I think I’m a messed up Titan-seeming god who has more than his share of issues, but I am also a firm believer in the power of love to provide some measure of peace and happiness, even when everything turns to shit around you…. Kistos could have turned assassin, or could have tried to; it would have been his right, as it was my family’s issues that killed his lover. But instead, he judged me for who I am, for who I could become. He knew what it was to be alone, and he gave the both of us a chance at finding sanctuary in his bed. We never came to my bed, only his. He had no interest in being the consort of a King; he and I, for years, were only happiness for each other. When his crew finished their contracts with me, he left. He returned above, and decades later, he begged an audience with me.

“He’d met someone, someone who filled what Arzaeus’ death had left of his heart with light, and he wanted me to know….”

She felt irrationally angry at Kistos. “How dare he rub that in your face!?!”

“No, easy, goddess…. He wanted me to know, so that I could see that sometimes, love shows up in different ways. I meant it: I think I loved him that night, and probably for a long while after. But he couldn’t love me back, and no love I’ve ever felt since then has been the same. Love takes a lot of shapes; I’ve lived more than two millennia, and my personal experiences alone are… woefully minimal compared to the love that fills the Underworld in the hearts of the shades in my keeping….

“He wanted me to know that everything we go through leads us somewhere else, and if we open ourselves to the possibilities, the chisel of time can work its magic and shape the stone of our lives into something marvelous.

“He didn’t invite me to the wedding. I sent an anonymous gift anyway, but I was…. I was genuinely happy for him and his Tallo. Tallo is from the Arabian Peninsula, if I remember correctly, and they live there now…. Kistos left more of an impact on me than I left on him, but sometimes, that’s how it goes. I don’t regret anything I had with him, and I don’t begrudge him his life now.”

She tapped the brush against her knee, trying to put it all together. “So, if no love is ever the same as another might be, you just have to trust that you’ve found the right one?”

Hades nodded, and she could swear there was a light shining in his eyes; sky-blue irises narrowed as his pupils swelled, drinking her in and drowning her in love. “Sometimes, it falls right in your lap….”

She laughed, breathless and distant-sounding even to her own ears. “Or the back seat of your fancy car….”

He chuckled, and she leaned toward him, even as he stopped leaning toward her. “Goddess, I love you. I’ve never felt a love like this, and I’m eager to hold onto it…. To hold onto you….”

She thought her heart should be racing, but her pulse was steady, as solid as marble and warm as granite under a summer sun. “I must be the luckiest goddess in the cosmos; I can’t imagine ever wanting to feel a love different than this….”

She twisted her hips, shifting to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. He shivered slightly as her lips molded onto his, and this time, she knew she could lead this kiss. She could, would, did, and felt Hades bind himself to her in the way he submitted to her silent demands.

She pushed, and he relaxed; she pulled him to her, and he leaned; her tongue requested entry at his half-parted lips, and he lowered the walls.

She kissed him, laying a claim to the god who loved her, to the King she craved in ways she could barely begin to fathom, and willingly he submitted to her, granting her power and she could feel her strength swell, riding high and racing far within her veins….

She wouldn’t worry any more about the thoughts of insignificant godlings and daemons; she wouldn’t fear her past or his.

She would walk this path with him, build a life with him, and they’d find out what their love would mean for them in the days, weeks, months, years, decades and centuries and millennia to come….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I could not help but create some original characters to flesh out what I needed for this story....
> 
> Kistos.... Like, I don't quite know where the hell he even came from. He knocked on the inside of my skull, said, "Hey, I gots this," and I just kinda had to let him take the reins. Such a lonesome, yet wholesome, mature and melancholy potamoi....
> 
> Sadly, this time, his name's origins DO NOT match with his character. Kist is basically "cyst." Obviously, that don't quite fly. I'm gonna just leave it at more than 1500 years back, it might have been something more poignant and promising....
> 
> Anyhoo. Thoughts? Impressions? Further clarity or lack thereof?
> 
> Next installment will either be Hades' therapy, or Hades and Persephone heading back to work on Wednesday. I am not sure. The Muses are silent for now....
> 
> We'll see what they come up with for us....


	4. The Night is for Making Love and Strategems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags have been updated to reflect newly developing and further developing themes and scenes in this chapter. Please check above.   
> We now have:
> 
> Male nipple play and female breast stimulation (she's getting braver, our dark Dread!)  
> Anal in multiple positions  
> Further dominance and submission dynamics developing  
> Orgasm control (and a hint of denial)  
> Some Begging (nothing too formal, but it's there)  
> Cum shot, cum licking, and cum swallowing (heh, wait and see....)
> 
> Consider this fic an exercise in "how many different ways can we write a Hades gets pegged scene" (I may or may not be doing research nearly daily for ideas.... You'd be surprised, it's not all doggy-style and prostate fun!)
> 
> Enjoy dears! This chapter is mostly porn with some further emotional and character development - but this chapter is ENTIRELY from Persephone's POV....

Persephone shifted her weight to her left foot, twisting around and feeling along the back of the waist-strap for the two connecting lines that ran between her legs. Grasping hold of both and the waistband, she gave a quick tug, staggering slightly before she caught her balance on the edge of the sink and gave herself a smirk in the mirror.

_Way to go, Persephone; knock yourself on your ass while you’re getting ready to peg your lover’s ass…._

She chuckled quietly, going over her plan once again in her mind.

It was Sunday evening; both she and Hades had agreed that it would be better to simply go to sleep the night before, after everything the day had brought them. Hades had woken up before her this morning, climbing out of the bed as gently as he could so that she could stay drowsing if she wanted. She hadn’t, and she’d followed him into the kitchen a few minutes later.

She’d thought it would be awkward, but their barely-established routines had reasserted themselves with only a few stumbles. Hades had turned the heat up the evening before, and she was more comfortable in her bare feet through most of the morning; she’d caught him eying her feet as she moved about the kitchen helping with their meals, but he’d seemed content to wait for her to initiate any further intimacy and explorations.

She’d shocked herself after lunch when Hades bent over at the fridge to replace the leftover salad on the lowest shelf: she’d given his ass a very thorough ogle before she even realized she was staring, and that same little tingle in her lower abdomen from a couple of weeks before had made itself known again with a vengeance.

If he had noticed the blush she could feel firing shockwaves over her cheeks and along her throat, he’d made no mention of it….

They’d watched movies through the afternoon, and over dinner – a delightful concoction of lentils and turnips, heavily sauced with butter and curry (Hades had supplemented his meal with a quickly-seared small cut of filet) – she’d finally realized she didn’t want another night’s reprieve from the curiosities of their developing sex life.

“Hades, you feel up to playing with the strap-on tonight?”

He’d smiled, nodding carefully over the rim of his glass of scotch. “Absolutely, goddess.”

“Good; I’d like it if you would go and wait for me on the bed like you were the last time, after dinner, and don’t forget that shiny plug and the lube….”

She’d noted how his shoulders relaxed as she finished her instructions; it hadn’t even seemed like he was tense, but he visibly melted under her barely-there dominance. “Of course, Persephone.”

They’d washed the dishes, side-by-side at the sink (she was proud that she’d managed to maintain her hover this time, not needing to drift to the floor for a rest at all through the entire chore), and afterward, she’d gone to settle the dogs and clean up any last-minute toy-explosions in their rumpus room. Flicking off lights on her way back to their bedroom, she’d finalized her plan, and she thought she’d never loved the King more than when she entered the bedroom and saw him seated cross-legged in the middle of the bed, lube and plug placed before him with her harness alongside.

A few soft-spoken words had him turning over, positioning himself over the towel he’d also remembered to retrieve: the scene somehow familiar to her now, even if she’d only seen it the once before.

And just as before, she opened him with the plug, listened to his voice change from husky need to quiet fulfillment, watched the way his body moved in the supple rhythms she coaxed from him with her control of the chrome-glinting toy buried within his passage.

Minutes later, he’d swallowed audibly, and she’d slowed in her careful study of his physical responses to listen when he whispered on a tender breath: “Goddess, please, more….”

She’d never felt so powerful, and her plan solidified with hearing that gently-given plea….

She would give him more; not everything, she couldn’t:

But he would get more tonight, and they’d grow stronger still together….

She’d left the plug inside him, told him to wait right there, and she’d retreated to the bathroom to get the harness on. It was easier this time, now that she knew how it all went together; her shorts were a little looser than the pair she’d worn on Friday night, but a few simple adjustments had the excess fabric pulled down her thighs, leaving the harness in its proper place close against her body’s curves. The top she’d chosen with care earlier in the day, stowing it behind the towels in the linen cabinet; she switched it out for the cotton blouse she’d been wearing, making sure the shoulder-straps were loosened enough for her plan to work.

She was ready; this would be a good next step for both of them, she was sure of it.

She left the bathroom, smiling as Hades turned to look at her from his unchanged position on his elbows and knees on the bed. His eyes widened, pupils dark in the dim light, and gods, if he didn’t lick his lips as he eyed her strap-on jutting out from her pelvis.

“Hades, thank you for staying put. I’d like you to turn over now, and snag that pillow for me on the way.”

He gasped, rushing to do as she had said, wincing a little before his back was to her, the plug shifting inside him. She kept walking toward the end of the bed, watching his jerky movements as he finally got settled with his feet flat on the mattress, knees bent high, the pillow clutched in a death grip at his left hip. She was a little impressed at how _heavy_ his cock looked where it lay against the trail of pale white and silver hair leading to his navel, and then her eyes were caught by how his nipples stood up in hard little points from his heaving chest.

_Oh, yeah. This is gonna work out great…._

Climbing onto the bed, she walked on her knees to the space between his own. He watched her with his mouth hanging open, awe and passion and need marking his features with shadows and light. She bent over, right hand taking the pillow from him; she made sure to watch as his eyes followed the way her breasts _swung_ inside the loosened fabric of her navy-blue camisole.

“Hips up, Hades.” He obeyed, and she shoved and wriggled the pillow into place beneath his ass, careful not to bump the plug barely protruding from his anus. He still gasped, and she smiled as another tingle bloomed behind her belly button and traveled lower.

_Gods, I’m starting to really like hearing his noises…._

She retrieved the lube with another leaning reach; once her dildo was shining all over and Hades was on the edge of panting with anticipation, she cleaned her hand on a free corner of the towel and then met his eyes as she took hold of the plug in his ass.

“Relax, Majesty….”

He moaned as she began fucking the toy in and out of him again, rather than pulling it out straight away like before. She could tell there was a difference in how it moved this time: with him on his back, she had to make sure to press straight in, or angle upward a little; whenever she angled downward, his happy humming pants would hitch just slightly. She knew it wasn’t quite pain, but it wasn’t purely pleasure either, and she wanted to do this right.

Once she felt satisfied that she had the information she needed, she placed her free hand carefully along the top of his thigh; he surfaced from the depths of his pleasure, trying to focus on her face when she nodded. He licked his lips, and she felt the carefully coiled power in his thighs as he braced for the plug’s removal.

She pulled, keeping the tension when it seemed it would go no further, and he pushed, and the plug came free. Once again, she was glad there was no real grossness to worry about; she did wipe the plug off on another edge of the towel before tossing it away across the bed.

Her dildo had cooled a little under its coating of lube: she could tell when she grasped it around the base and angled it to meet his opening. “Hades, might be a little cold, is that okay?”

“Sure, goddess, I like a little sensation every once in a while….” He rushed through the words, barely sparing any breath as he wriggled a little, canting his hips upward to ease the penetration.

She molded her left hand over the angle of his hipbone as she began to press inward, shuffling forward carefully on her knees as the ring of muscles gave way to her insistence. She watched his face, eager to see what she couldn’t see Friday night with him facing the mattress beneath her when she fucked him.

His mouth was open in a little _O_ , his eyebrows high on his forehead as if he was shocked, and his pupils swelled as she watched, increasing in size with every inch of silicone she forced into his body.

The tingling in her abdomen and crotch shifted to a liquid-melting pressure, and she shivered slightly at the change.

Finally, her thighs met the soft skin of his ass; her right hand took up a position mirrored to her left across his hips, and she rocked her lower body back and forth just an inch or two at a time, watching the pleasure arc across his face as if it was an actual glow, lighting him up at her command.

“Gods, Hades, I knew I’d like seeing your face while I fuck you, but this is better than anything I could have dreamed….”

He blearily focused on her, blinking hazily and licking his lips again. “Happy, _fuck_ , to oblige, my little – _ohhhhh_ – my-little-voyeur!” She rolled out a little farther and back in while he was trying to speak, and his eyes rolled back in his head to match her movements. She laughed deep in her throat, dropping the pitch of her voice to a sultry tone, and he _moaned_.

“I’m not the only one who likes to look, though, am I, Hades? Open your eyes, look back at me….” He did, blinking on just about every thrust she pushed into him with carefully calculated movements. _Time for the next phase…._ “Watch me; see me, right now.”

She took her hands from his hips, never stopping her gentle movements between his bent and spread legs, and pulled the straps down off her shoulders. She freed one arm entirely, and then the other, and once she saw the realization filter through into his mind, she rolled the fabric down over her breasts.

_“Oh, goddess…!”_

His voice floated through the air like fledgling’s down on a breeze, and she smiled as her trust grew wings on the quiet worship he laid upon her with his eyes.

“I’d like to play with your nipples, too, Hades; it seems only fair we share this the first time. Do you want to touch my breasts?”

He nodded, his hair tangling on the sheets beneath him, and she leaned forward, bracing her thighs against his ass, her waist resting against his inner thighs as he brought them slightly closer together to support her. His mouth fell open on a gasp as the dildo shifted inside him; she waited until he nodded again, softer this time as her fingers began tracing over his pectorals and his hands came trembling up from the mattress to cup around her breasts.

She mimicked the way he touched her, relying on his experience at first as he massaged with his palms, stroked with his fingers; she tried to keep her hips undulating smoothly against him, but after just a few moments, she started to get lost in the waves and surges of pleasure that his touch on her breasts sent arcing through her body. She wasn’t quite sure how being touched up _here_ could make her wet down _there_ , but yet, that’s exactly what was happening; strange and odd, yes, but she definitely liked it.

“Oh, goddess, I really want to use my mouth, but dammit, you’re too far away!”

She hadn’t even realized her eyes had drifted closed as she lost herself in his touch on her flesh; she snapped them back open, noting the bold smirk that he had leveled on her from his prone position beneath her on the bed. She giggled, rolling her hips against him deliberately, breaking through his sneakily-regained control and finally capturing his nipples between her thumbs and forefingers. His back arched a little, his hands dropping to grip enormous handfuls of the sheets and towel beneath his body, pushing his chest toward her as he keened.

She might have thought she’d hurt him, but he was smiling through the desperate sound, and she knew he was hers once more….

“Some other time, Hades; thank you for showing me how good that can feel, but for now, I want to see you come.”

_“Anything, goddess, fuck….”_

She leaned away from him again, trailing her hands down his torso as she shifted back onto her knees. His muscles trembled beneath her fingers, almost rippling as she found a rhythm between his legs. She left her hands splayed over his stomach, enjoying the feel of him surrendering to the surges of pleasure she coaxed from him.

“Hades, when I tell you to, I want you to start pleasuring yourself however you like. Nipples, cock, anything; hell, if you can reach my chest from there, you can touch my breasts again. Whatever it takes, Hades, to make you come….”

His eyes met hers, an intensity there in his red-rimmed pupils that shot lightning through her veins: need, pure and raw and hers alone. “ _As my goddess commands….”_

She fucked him, staring into his eyes, feeling how fast the muscles in his stomach were twitching now. His eyes tightened at the corners, and she knew, instinctively, that this was the moment: now or never.

“Touch yourself, Hades….”

His head tilted back against the mattress as his left hand came up to pinch and twist his nipple; his right hand was around his cock in nearly the same moment, his arm between her own and his thigh, fist pumping and stroking in time with her steady thrusts between his legs. He panted, half-moaning with every breath, and his wrist bumped hers slightly as his motion grew more heated, less controlled.

She sped up a fraction with her hips, and he shuddered, spastic and sudden as he gave a wordless cry of pleasure to the deepening night.

“That’s it, Hades, keep going, I’m not stopping….”

_“Yes, yes, please, goddess, fuuuucckkk…!”_

She was sweating, and so was he; her hair was sticking to her forehead, and her camisole where it was bunched up beneath her breasts was beginning to feel a little clammy. Her hands were having more trouble staying in place flat on Hades’ quivering stomach, but she dug her fingers in a little, and he keened again.

_“Please, please, oh-my-goddess, please-may-I-come?!”_

_…. Well, fuck me, he wants permission…._

“Come for me, Hades….”

He grunted, a short staccato sound of fractured breath; his stomach clenched and his shoulders left the mattress as he curled up around her hands on his skin; his left hand shot down from his chest, grabbing her wrist almost too tightly; and his right hand all but slammed into his pelvis as his cock began to pulse. She watched, fascinated by the spectacle, as white liquid, not quite thick and not exactly thin, shot out, spattering on his sweat-shining chest in two trickling marks before a third, somewhat smaller, landed on the inside of her left wrist. She flinched a little at the quickly-fading heat of the stuff, and he twitched too; she thought that might have been from the throbbing she could feel rocking through his canal as his orgasm ricocheted through his ass, around her dildo.

He collapsed back onto the bed all at once, his ass still twitching around the strap-on; she held still, not sure if he would want the over-stimulation. His grip around her wrist loosened at the same time he lowered his cock back to his stomach, and she met his eyes as he trailed his fingers off her skin.

“I’m sorry, Persephone, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t: it was just this side of too-tight. I’m okay, promise.” To prove it, she lifted her hands from his stomach, rolling both of her wrists clockwise and then counter. “See? Fully functional, still.”

“Good….” He panted while she backed away from him, going slowly and pausing whenever she felt his anus clench up around the silicone. Her clit pulsed behind the base of her strap-on, and her whole vulva throbbed with a pleasant warmth as the cock finally slipped from his shining hole, the straps and her body taking the weight now.

She lifted her wrist, inspecting the shiny wetness that marked her skin.

“Hades, got a question for you.”

“What is it, little goddess?”

“Is it true that some guys like the taste of their own cum?”

He laughed, a little breathlessly; she stared, utterly shocked, as he trailed his fingers through the streaks of white on his sweaty chest. She was the one to gasp, then, as he languidly licked his fingers clean, watching her through half-opened eyes the whole time.

He licked his lips when he finished, winking at her lazily, all eternities to amuse and impress his goddess.

“Like what you see, Persephone…?”

_…._

“ _Fuck_ , yeah, I do….”

She scrambled over his body, clambering over him until her lips met his and she chased the taste of his release around his mouth with her tongue, salt and warmth and somehow olive-y. He put up only a token resistance, letting her lead to whatever degree she wished; her hands on his cheeks mirrored his on hers, and a few pounding heartbeats later, she sat up, panting and drifting up and down on his gasping breaths.

“…. That was super hot, Hades, thanks….”

“Heh, thank you, goddess, for fucking me so well….”

They laughed together, and gods, if this was how things were going to be for eternities, she knew for sure that she was the luckiest goddess in existence….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie - I usually write from Hades' POV, because it's easier for me to get in his headspace. I tend to struggle with channeling Persephone sometimes; it's difficult to explain. On the one hand, I am female by birth and choice - it's not difficult to write female-perspective arousal in a clinical sense. 
> 
> But I do find it easier for me to channel the emotional senses through a male lens, especially a soft-bottom male-type lens. I don't know why, but I do. This fic is becoming an exploration into curiosities for me, as well. I'm finding myself delving into aspects of headspace I've never really trodden too deeply within before now. I wonder if y'all can tell the difference in this chapter and some of the more Hades'-centric stuff I've written....
> 
> Anyhoo....
> 
> I tried to keep Persephone's tone straddling a line between clinically-detached, cataloging information as she experiences this scene, and actually experiencing her developing sexuality and sensuality. I didn't exactly count passages, but I think it came out a little more to the side of clinical for the most part - which works for her right now. This is THE SECOND TIME she's pegged her lover (and did you notice, she's begun calling him "lover" in her mind, SQUEEEEEEEE!), and she's still in "student" mode a bit. She took a little more of a "traditional" dom role this time, telling Hades when and how to touch, and he dove headfirst into the submissive role, even to the point of asking for permission to come (I may have peed my pants a little writing that particular bit, holy fuck, it's a kink for this Swoonie, read Primordial Lore, I swear....)
> 
> Okay. I'm done raving about my own shit for now. 
> 
> As always, I love hearing from y'all in comments! I still have lots of plans, but am still willing and waiting for requests and prompts for this fic! Don't be shy, shoot 'em my way!
> 
> Happy Hump Day, little ones!


	5. Trust and Therapy ... and Tiny Toes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Within, we have sequences of 
> 
> Anxiety, emotional numbness, and self-loathing  
> Increasing levels of feet kink  
> Pomelia Adorability Factor Level 3000  
> Original Character Creepy Factor
> 
> ....
> 
> You'll know it when you see it....
> 
> No real smexies this go round. Have some plot after your porn, and before the next round of porn....

Hades sighed, trying to ignore the irritation nagging along his shoulders as he held the phone to his ear. It had been ringing for nearly a minute, but finally, the receptionist answered, her voice light and airy.

“Office of Voulos, Therapist to the Gods; how may I help you this Monday morning?”

Hades smiled at Persephone’s wide-eyed nod of encouragement as he tried to steady his breathing; why was this always so hard?! “This is Hades; I need to request an appointment at the earliest possible time.”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Vee told me to expect your call. He has cleared the most of his schedule for your convenience, sir. The earliest available time today is at eleven this morning, but we are here until five, as always. What time works best for you?”

“Um, one moment, please…?”

“Certainly.”

He thumbed the mute button and turned to Persephone. “Eleven? We could snag something to eat on the way back; I won’t be up for much, I can tell you that….”

“Eleven would be fine, but how about one? I kinda wanted to do some shopping before, especially if you wanted to come straight home after….”

“Alright then….” He turned the call volume back on and relayed their selection to the receptionist.

“Of course, sir; one this afternoon, splendid. As always, the office will be cleared of nonessential personnel; thank you for your trust, Majesty, and I hope you are well soon.”

“Thank you, Daela.”

He sagged into the couch cushions as Persephone snuggled closer to his side. The dogs were tumbling about the romp-yard, a few holey socks and chewed-on sandals flying over the writhing horde like leaves kicked up by territorial deer squaring off in the autumn. He watched them, trying to force his brain to work. _Numb, why am I numb…?_ Persephone trailed light fingers down over the angle of his jaw, drew them to a rest along the tendons of his neck.

“Are you worried this will send you spiraling again?”

He clicked his tongue against his teeth; the irritation wasn’t for her, and he bit down on the snippy remark that was suddenly there on his tongue. He breathed in deeply through his nose, letting his eyes slide to darkness, before he answered her. “No. I’m worried it’ll hurt more this time; usually, I’m still bleary-eyed from the two bottles plus of scotch. Everything’s different this time: I’ve got more to lose, more to hide….”

“What’s to hide?”

He peeked at her; she was smirking. Why was she smirking…?

“Um. You. And me. Our… this….”

“I told you, I’d rather go public with how I’m apparently the Queen, beside your own Kingly self and all. I don’t see why you should have to hide that from your therapist. Confidentiality and all, anyway: he’s the safest person to tell aside from Hecate, yeah?”

“For the public story, sure, but what about the more personal stuff…? I can’t imagine you would be okay with him knowing our bedroom life, not when it’s so new to us…. And _that_ , in and of itself, our sex life is part of why this is all different this time, and if he asks, I don’t know what to tell him….”

“The truth, Hades. You tell him the truth. That you’re in love with me. That I love you. That we’re living together, and our life together is something we’re discovering in our own time, at our own pace, but it’s helping both of us heal from everything…. Isn’t it?”

He knew she didn’t want an agreement for agreement’s sake; he took the time she gave him with her patient silence, checking his tumbling emotions as best he could for a few slow breaths. “It is…. If you’re okay with it, then I won’t worry so much about that…. But I’m still just – ”

“You’ve been through a lot of emotions in the past few days. We both have. But I got my closure: you gave it to me. You don’t quite have your closure yet; hence, therapy. After today, we may not be entirely past this whole thing, but we’ll be that much closer. Yeah, it’s probably gonna hurt; and yeah, you’ll be worn out afterward, wrung dry and twisted up from facing all of that all over again. But you need to do it, Hades. I won’t take no for an answer.” She leaned up, stretching to bring her lips to his cheek. He stared straight ahead as she clambered off the couch, leaving the living room and him behind. “I’m going to make a quick list of everything I want to look for at the store. I’ll be ready to leave in about fifteen minutes. You can do this, Hades….”

Her voice trailed away down the hall, and somehow, her insistent confidence gave him the strength to face the pain that was already reaching for him with claws of truths he rarely acknowledged in the half-light of his waking life….

* * *

The elevator pinged and the steel-plated doors slid out of sight into the gap. The potpourri in glass bowls half-hidden around the room on bookshelves and tabletops and inside open-doored-glass-fronted oddments-cubbies suffused the well-appointed sitting area with spicewoods: teak and cinnamon, sandalwood and balsam, cypress and cedar and myrrh. Hades tried to loosen his grip on Persephone’s tiny hand, but she only curled her fingers tighter to his palm:

She wouldn’t let him distance himself, emotionally or physically, had kept him close and under her watchful, diligent eye all day. He’d only been out of her sight when she was in the fitting rooms at Divinity, Underworld Center’s highest-end department store, the place he purchased all of his own attire.

_Well, and when I ducked into the bathroom earlier at the burger joint…._

He reached with his mind for Cerberus; his hound was still bonded to Persephone, but while Hades and his little goddess were still off-work for their recovery from Friday’s insanity and trauma, Cerberus was back at his post today, guarding the borders and ensuring everyone working at Headquarters knew everything was fine….

_Images matter, especially those of the monarch…._

_Monarchs…._

As Persephone tugged him toward the low coffee table in front of a too-plush red-leather couch, Hades’ mind drifted back to the wardrobe Persephone had put together with his help that morning from the racks of Divinity’s premium lines: elegant business casual blouses, pants, and skirts; more commanding dresses and full suits for a Queen on the rise; even a couple of exquisite gowns.

_And every piece of it in black, Kalamata burgundy, and every blue imaginable…._

He tried not to think of the various pumps, sandals, booties, slippers, and stilettos she’d let him help her find; he begged his heart not to flutter with remembering how she’d let him guide her feet into each pair to make sure the sizes weren’t off between styles….

_Fuck me, I could have asked her to marry me right there, her foot on my knee and that black stiletto dangling off her toes…._

_No. Don’t you even go there, Hades…._

_She does **not** have to marry you to rule beside you. You’ve known each other all of, what, a month?! _

_You can love and make love, sure, proven that. But don’t you dare make that mistake; she’s twenty years old. You’re more than one hundred times her age._

_No matter how badly you want it, you need to wait…. Especially after this weekend…._

That barely-sprouted dream died under the boot-heel of his logic as the walnut-stained door swung open in the far wall. Persephone turned with him to face the steel-grey being emerging from the office beyond.

“Hello, there. My name is Voulos, but you can call me Vee or Mr. Vee. You must be the wondrous Spring! An honor, dear lady, an honor indeed….” Voulos swept into a deep bow, his charcoal hair falling over his brow and half-moon wire-rimmed spectacles. The leather-bound notebook’s pages fluttered in the breeze as Hades’ therapist straightened with a flourish, spinning on his heels and gesturing toward the open door. “Majesty, if you’re ready…?”

Hades hesitated only long enough for Persephone to all but yank her hand from his before she bumped his thigh with her hip. He threw a sheepish grin over his shoulder at her as he moved past Voulos and into the office; she was bobbing Pommie’s front paw at him in a wave as she stepped toward the too-red couch, and he knew she’d be fine to wait for him to get through with this.

He swallowed, the fear and hurt starting to claw their way up his throat again as Voulos closed the door behind himself with the tiniest of latch-clicks.

“Well, I must admit: the Spring is all anyone has been discussing for a few weeks now, and the rumors, much as I hate to say I’d heard them, do not do her justice by half. There’s something about her; she is no Olympian, of that I’m sure, but dare I say there’s a taste of the Cthonic ‘round her…? Faint, perhaps, but I’d say it’s only begun to appear and will only grow. I’m eager to see more of her around, Majesty….”

Hades sank onto the black couch, his usual seat. Old routines took over, and he toed his shoes off under the narrow table between himself and Voulos. His scarf went over the arm of the couch, and his coat followed that. He leaned his elbows on his knees before finally meeting his therapist’s gaze in the amber-and-rye scented air.

“You will, Voulos. Is the clock running…?”

“Of course. Utter secrecy from this symnaiad _,_ I assure….”

Hades nodded, steeling himself. It felt… strange to finally be on the verge of saying it aloud, to someone not Persephone….

“…. She’s the Queen of the Underworld; she’d be the Queen of the Underworld, even without me. The Underworld has a claim on her I’m still trying to fathom; that’s what you’re tasting.”

“Ah! Marvelous! Wonder of wonders and miracle of millennia: _finally_ , she’s arrived. You must be thrilled to have located her before another could have stolen she that rightfully belongs at your side….”

Hades felt his King-self howling in agreement, but his more-gentle self roared in outrage. “I am not abducting her! She belongs to no one but herself!”

“Easy, Majesty! I did not say you owned her, nor that you had stolen the godling away. I said that you _located_ her, and that she has a place beside you, as the Queen. Equal in power, but separate from your own self, to be sure. I am sorry to have not made myself clear.”

The tension bled away, and Hades dragged his hands down his face, wishing he could as easily wipe away the confusion and turmoil tearing him apart as he wiped the sweat from his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Voulos. I’m really messed up right now.”

“Which is why you are here, to be sure. So, perhaps we should just ensure we have the facts clear between us for this session…. On Friday, you and the Spring were in your home – whatever the circumstances that led to that are invalid to this discussion, yes?” Hades nodded, staring at his black-socked feet. “The Spring was then accosted in your front hall by one Olympian charged with escorting the Sun-lord Helios. Your mighty hound took the Olympian to the mortal realm, and you, with the Spring, followed. Both of you fully wrapped in ancient power, each your own, and there, before various witnesses with their own reasons for watching, the Spring spoke forth in ancient tongue that the Olympian had raped her, and he would be punished at the King of the Underworld’s hand by her own demand…. Is that all correct?”

Hades nodded again, fighting the taste of bile that was crawling up the back of his throat.

Voulos thumped his leather-wrapped notebook to the table. The pen clicked too-loud and rolled across the glass as it followed from his bony fingers cloaked in dusky grey skin. “Hades, once again, you must not lie to yourself. Voice to the air what came next, and let your heart breathe….”

He gritted his teeth, hating how Voulos knew, hating that he’d ever let himself say it all those years ago.

He hated how much he craved the safety Voulos offered him in this quiet office filled with warm-earth tasting air….

“Hades, say it. ‘T’will not be the first time I have heard it from your own lips, and I do not think I misspeak when I say it will not be the last…. Speak, please, or we can go no further.”

He sobbed out the breath choking him, a breath that pulsed with the remembered taste of ichor on his lips, a mist of violence and rage that cloaked the air as he obliterated the one who had harmed his light.

“ _I ripped the bastard apart, crushed him and broke him and took my Queen’s justice from his ichor and bones, and I **enjoyed** **every** **second** **of** **it** …._”

* * *

Persephone flipped the pages of the dingy magazine, not really looking at the pictures of happy families and quaintly-designed beach homes that a family with three small children would be lucky to keep _that clean and pristine_ for more than two minutes….

_It’s been a while…. Nearly an hour; they should be close to done…._

_Ish?_

_I mean, maybe not. Maybe he wasn’t coping as well as he looked, maybe he was putting on a brave face for me…._

She smiled, setting the magazine aside and stroking Pommie’s back.

_Silly man…._

She pulled her phone from the table, giggling quietly at the image on her lock-screen: Hades with a mouthful of spaghetti from a night last week, and Cerberus crouched in the background, a hunter waiting to strike. Hades’ eyes were wide, both completely to the side closest to the hellhound, trying to keep the beast in his peripheral vision while he tried to finish his meal.

**_My_ ** _silly man…._

She opened her messenger, happy to see the blue bubble of a reply from Hecate. She opened the thread and read her friend’s formally-worded message.

**_Thank you for informing me  
that Hades was able to attend  
a session with Voulos.   
I am gratified to know that you  
are there with that big blue idiot.  
I always fear he is too much   
a flight risk when it comes  
to his mental health.  
I will await a follow-up   
message from you or the King,   
regarding when would be the   
most opportune time to call   
regarding matters of import  
this evening.  
(However, as his friend,   
please let me know if he’s  
just not up for it.  
As his friend, I can adjust  
the necessities as his advisor,  
if needed….)  
Please don’t hesitate   
to contact me if there’s   
anything you need.  
Either of you._ **

Persephone bit her lip as she started typing her reply.

**_I do have a question.  
I’m not sure I could actually  
ask Voulos; it seems like  
it would be really offensive.  
But I’ve never seen   
a being like him before.  
And I swear I felt… something….   
It felt like the telepathy   
I told you Hades and I  
seem to have now,  
but more one-way….  
Like Voulos could tell things  
about me, but I wouldn’t  
be able to “read” him  
in return. Is he safe?   
Am I freaking out over nothing?_ **

The blue bubble reappeared moments after Persephone sent her message, with three dots bouncing in a steady-rippling wave to indicate that Hecate was typing a reply.

**_You are the Queen of the Underworld;  
it is well within your rights to inquire  
about the beings you interact with,   
especially if you sense something.  
In this instance, yes, Voulos is safe,   
and yes, you did feel something real.  
Voulos is what is called a symnaiad.   
They are beings somewhat native_ **

**_…._ **

**_Sorry, early enter key…._ **

**_…._ **

**_They are beings somewhat native  
to the Underworld now; though,   
like many of us, they were not   
formed of this land, but rather   
“naturalized” to it over generations  
and by choice. Symnaiads are   
similar to Sirens of the Ocean,   
in that they can taste aspects of  
other beings. For Sirens, they taste  
lust and desire and channel that  
into their own flesh to ensnare their prey.   
Symnaiads taste intention and   
soul, and while some have been guilty_ **

**_…._ **

**_DAMMIT_ **

**_…._ **

**_Blah-blah-blah, … guilty  
in the past of using their talent to   
lead others into dark and even   
bloody paths, others, like Voulos,   
have made a good living out of  
helping beings who would   
otherwise lose their perspective,  
lose their purpose and fall into despair.  
Voulos is ancient, indeed, a leader  
among his kind, and he has helped   
Hades even more than myself,   
I think. Do not fear him,  
and please consider showing him   
all the respect you can, Majesty…._ **

Persephone typed off a quick reply as footsteps clacked on the floor behind the closed dark-toned door across the quiet, spicy-smelling waiting room.

**_Thank you, Hecate;_  
gotta go, but I will   
respect the ones who  
help my King….**

Persephone tucked her phone into her pocket, rising with a smile and adjusting Pommie into the crook of her elbow; she froze, suspicious once more as Voulos exited and closed his office door behind him.

“Persephone, may I sit with you for a moment?” She nodded, sinking back to the couch. The symnaiad’s voice was a little rough, the sound of salt and emotion tearing the edges of his words and pouring gravel into his whispered vowels; she hadn’t quite noticed it before he and Hades went through to the office earlier, but Voulos had a rather creepy voice. The leather-wrapped cushions creaked a little under her pants and Voulos’ as they sat, and Pommie gave a gusting sigh with all the disruptions to her nap. “The King is rather… distraught…. There are a few things he and I feel he should share with you, but he doesn’t feel confident doing so alone. Would you come with me, and allow me to rather, um, guide and chaperone the conversation that needs to take place betwixt the two of you?”

Persephone couldn’t help but worry; after everything she and Hades had already talked about, what could be so bad that he was scared to talk with her without a third party nearby this time?!

_But he needs me; why would I say no…?_

“Absolutely; thank you, Voulos, for helping us today, and him all these years.”

The symnaiad smiled, and Persephone flinched at the needle-like teeth glinting from behind black lips beneath moss-green gums. “Oh, dearest Spring, ‘tis my pleasure to assist such a powerful being. Be assured, I am most adequately compensated for my time and efforts….”

The shiver that crawled down her spine definitely wasn’t from the air vents that blasted to life as she rose once more to follow Voulos into his office to have a probably-painful discussion with her “distraught” King….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES! WE MUST HAVE HEADSPACE NOTES!
> 
> My Muses crafted the idea of symnaiads exactly as I made Hecate describe them after a twenty minute research jag on Google Translate for a term I could use as a name for a Therapist to the Gods. I finally came up with this sequence:
> 
> "confidant" = mystikos symvoulos  
> "symvoulos" = advisor  
> sym-naiad = sym- meaning "together or with" and "naiad" meaning nymph (generally of the aquatic sorts)  
> "voulos" = in a more modern sense, this actually refers to "parliament" or governing organizations
> 
> Hence, Voulos as an "elder" among his kind, and his race of creatures essentially being critters that journey through life "alongside" other beings, assisting or diverting other beings' life paths for... reasons yet to be explicated in the story....
> 
> .... World Builder Swoonie strikes again....
> 
> Anyhoo. 
> 
> I'm sorry to break this chapter into two parts with a cliffhanger, but it was already pushing the length of the others, and I couldn't wait to share. I have no impulse control. I made a thing; I want to share it....
> 
> We'll finalize the session with Voulos in the next installment, and then y'all are gonna just have to put up with my feetsy love for, like, 1500 words.... I'm not sorry. I wants it. Needs it....
> 
> Dealwivvit....
> 
> Here's to you, dears! 916 views and 69 kudos after only four posted chapters! Thank you all!


	6. Trust and Therapy and Tiny Toes - Twice-over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags have been updated to reflect just how much feet kink I'm not sorry to be sharing with you lovelies today....
> 
> This chapter includes 
> 
> Continuing themes of emotional recovery, shame, and acceptance  
> Instances of unwanted metaphysical contact - specifically, Voulos using his power on Persephone  
> Foot fetish and feetsy worship - including tender caresses, gentle massage, and kisses and soft-lickies (no raunchy toe-sucking, that's too weird, Hades explains)  
> Unexpected Proposals of Sorts from Unexpected Quarters  
> Emotions. Emotions. Emotions.
> 
> I cried. There's a scene where I wept to write it. 
> 
> All happy tears, but still....
> 
> Happy Feets-Feels-Fluids-and-Fukken Fic Friday, dears!
> 
> Edited at 11pm 4-17-2020: This chapter does depict Voulos doing some things that NO normal therapist would do, namely making comments directed to and about Persephone that are creepy and off-color. This particular sequence of events may be triggering for certain individuals. Voulos and his actions are elements of fiction; the emotional impact of his actions on Persephone will be addressed in future chapter(s). 
> 
> I myself attend therapy regularly; for the most part, my experiences have been good. I urge everyone to remember that this is a work of fiction, a story, and things happen in stories that may reflect reality through an altered lens. This is one of those situations. This single scene should not be taken as indicative of every mental health care experience possible. It is one fictional character and sequence that does play a larger role in the work by providing a foil to the healthy and stable solutions that are yet to be discovered by our Dread and King. 
> 
> In keeping with the organically-occurring and progressive-development nature of this work, "bad" experiences have featured and will continue to feature as Hades and Persephone navigate their existences together.
> 
> Vines and Trellises must weather fire, flood, drought, and plague to truly grow strong....

Persephone took note of the room as she bumped the door closed behind her back. Hades was facing away from her on a black-clad couch; Voulos took a seat opposite the cerulean god, in a wing-backed armchair of plum-colored velvet. The notebook from earlier was splayed open on the narrow table between the two, and Persephone smiled softly as she caught sight of Hades’ feet in his jet cotton socks twined together at the ankles near one corner-leg.

She went around Voulos to the far side of the couch and took her seat. Pomelia yawned rather hugely and then squirmed for her freedom. With a quick check to Voulos’ needle-toothed smile, she released the miniscule dog, who immediately pranced across the couch cushions to her daddy’s lap. Hades chuckled, his face hidden from Persephone’s worried examination by his hair.

Voulos’ voice crackled into the warm-autumn scented atmosphere of this gentleman’s study of a room. “Now, then. Dear Spring, you are aware that the King is, shall we say, not quite as other gods of younger kind. He is rather one of the oldest, and as such, his inheritance from his lineage is rather more, mmmmm, _more_. You know this, yes?”

She nodded, turning her attention to the symnaiad more fully. “Yes. I’ve felt wrathful gods before, and I could tell the difference Friday, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just from me being all wrathful at the same time.”

“Well, you _are_ perceptive for such a young thing.” She felt again that glancing not-quite-contact from Voulos, _tasting_ her mind without any way for her to counter the touch.

“Voulos, please don’t do… whatever it is you’re doing; I can feel it, and I don’t think I’m comfortable with whatever it is.” She stared down the symnaiad, even though she felt Hades finally peering at her from his spot across the couch. The telepathic drain eased, faded from her awareness, and she relaxed a little more. “Thank you.”

“Apologies, Spring. I didn’t realize you’d be able to tell, as young as you are…. I meant no harm or offense; it’s a part of what I am, but I will endeavor to redirect….”

“I appreciate it. After what I went through, I’m sure you understand that my _being_ needs to be my own, in every way.”

“Certainly; I will keep to the boundary as best I can…. Majesty, you appear confused; you were aware your Queen is a fertility goddess, were you not?”

Persephone and Hades stared at each other for a beat before turning their attention to Voulos once again. She found her tongue while Hades was still sputtering. “What does being a fertility goddess have to do with your tasting of purpose and intent?”

Voulos laughed, needle-and-glass teeth shining in the amber light from table lamps all around; his voice rollicked through Persephone’s body, danced along her nerves in the slinking rhythms of sand falling through a tilted hourglass.

_Hells, that is the creepiest laugh I’ve ever heard…!_

“Apologies, Spring and King! _Tasting of purpose and intent?!_ That is not how I’ve ever heard my kind’s appetite described, but I suppose it fits….” Voulos chuckled, his voice drifting down to a more-hollow tone and pitch as he swiped his nearly too-long fingers over his eyes. “We symnaiads, um, feed on the _effects_ wrought by a being on the existences around them as they move through their life. It’s a bit of a, hmmmm, third-party situation by proxy, to be sure, but the best way to explain it is this:

“A being like the King makes choices daily that affect all the lives and non-lives of the beings in Underworld and elsewhere. By helping him maintain his mental well-being, I ensure that he continues to cause things to happen in his life, which in turn affects others, and those ripples continue to spread outward, as well as return from the fringes of the pond of his existence. When the King returns to me for his therapies, that, mmmmmm, increase is present in his, shall we say, his aura, and that is what I subsist upon.

“Now, you, dear Spring: you are rather an enigma, but yet I cannot lie to you – you taste _good_. As a fertility deity, you carry within you the potential to spawn all kinds of Life, whether that be your delightful plants or regenerated tissues when you exercise your healing gifts; and yet, you are claimed by and for the realm of the dead of mortal-kind. Your every breath promises change; your presence here was a temptation I was unaware could exist for one such as me. But I will endeavor to keep myself to myself, as best I can. I beg you forgive me small lapses; I’ve never been found out like this before, especially with such a delightful treat in my office…. In fact, I think what I was tasting before was the changes you’ve wrought in the King directly…. Hmmmm…. Interesting, very….”

Voulos shook his head, startling Hades and Persephone both from staring at the symnaiad with their mouths hanging open. Their eyes met over the short distance between them on the couch, and then they looked away, blushes flaring bright as Voulos cleared his throat.

“Apologies once more. I seem rather easily distracted today; pardon my ramble. Now, in any case…. Yes, so, the Spring does recognize the difference in her King as compared to other gods; but degree of power is only part of the King’s anxiety…. I have known this component of his self for centuries; he feels it is necessity that he share it with you, now.”

She heard Hades gulp, groaning in his throat as she shifted her attention squarely onto him. He stared at the cushion between them, refusing to meet her eyes once more; Voulos fell silent, but Persephone could see the symnaiad’s foot tapping on air near the edge of the table.

_Come on, Hades; you can tell me anything._

_Don’t hide from me…._

Hades stroked Pommie’s ears, tenderly and carefully, the dog’s skull dwarfed beneath his hand. Persephone fixed a calm, expectant-yet-patient look to her face, hoping she could hold it no matter what the secret would finally turn out to be….

She didn’t have to see his eyes to hear the tears ripping his voice to shreds when he finally spoke in a soft-but-wretched tone:

“Persephone, it shames me beyond anything, but I… I-I-I actually like ph-ph-phys-physical v-v-violence….”

His shoulders bunched up around his neck, his hand froze on the back of Pommie’s neck, and the leather creaked under his other hand’s clenching fingers near his hip: braced for the pain he thought she would inflict on him with words of disgust, fear, hate….

_Oh, my silly, silly man…._

* * *

Pomelia skittered past Hades’ feet as he drifted to a stop beside the dining room table, the little darling heading directly for the rumpus room as the evening lowered its cloak more fully outside his home. Persephone’s purse thumped to the counter behind him as the door into the garage latched closed, and then her fingers were twining with his own. The bag from the deli in his other hand felt heavy, even though it only held two sandwiches and a small container of pasta salad.

_I… can’t believe it…._

“Hades, you still seem a little out of it. Are you okay up there?” His Queen floated into the air, bringing his hand with her as she drifted around him, peering into his face for answers.

_How is it this simple…?_

_Can it truly be so easy…?_

The words she’d given him in answer to his shameful revelation rebounded through his skull once more.

_“I’d be more worried if you felt nothing when you had to go so dark. Am I any less worthy of your love because I enjoyed seeing you beat Apollo to a bloody pile of shitty little sun-god? …. Then how can you think you deserve my hate for that truth of your self?”_

It couldn’t be that simple, and yet, she made it so….

“Hades, dear?” Soft palm and gentle fingers on his cheek, a quiet kiss between his brows, the numbness receding in the warmth of her breath on his skin. “If you need a little more time, I’ll put dinner away. It’ll keep until you’re ready….”

She made it so easy to find a way back, to become whole in this mess, where before he’d only ever been broken and wrongly-formed….

“I’m okay….”

Her glare seemed far too aware of how carefully that simple statement skirted the fringes of truth.

“Okay enough for Hecate’s call this evening? She just needs to know when we’re free….”

“…. Let’s get the dogs settled, I guess, and then we can call her. I don’t think I’m all that hungry, but you don’t have to wait for me to eat if you are.”

“No, I’m not really hungry either, but we’ve got the food if we get there. Give it here, and you can check on the pack this time.”

He chuckled, light and happiness finding their way back into his heart as she led him from an ages-long night of self-loathing and shame with gentle words of acceptance, of love….

* * *

Persephone sighed as she tapped the _End Call_ button. “Okay. I get the reasoning, but I guess I’m not sure how comfortable I’ll be having this newest _new thing_ on top of everything else when we go back to work.”

“It’s merely a point of logistics, sweetness. After our press conference, after we go public with your growing power and status as the Queen-to-become of the Underworld, you will need an office more, mmmmm, inaccessible. For your own safety and appearances. You’ve been claimed by the Realm; can’t change that, and you don’t want to, do you?”

“No, no I don’t. But still, I don’t want special treatment, never did….”

“It’s not special treatment for you as an intern; it is merely the treatment you are owed due your newly claimed status…. If the change in office is too much this soon, the next best solution would be to hold off on going public with your status. Once you claim your role publicly, the office is…. I hate to say _mandatory_ , but I’m afraid I must insist. The Queen of the Underworld must utilize an office space more appropriate to her role….”

She knew he was right; her Queen-self was skipping inside her skin at the thought of the status symbol of an office high in Tower One, on the same floor as her King’s spaces….

_But I’m still just twenty years old, an intern!_

_Well…._

“A question of logistics, then. I don’t want to push back the press conference; I want that done. I’ll accept the office, as much as it feels like too much, but _am_ I even still an intern once we get it all out in the open about the Queen thing?”

“That specific terminology is… formality, for the most part. Hecate, you, and I can nail down the specifics once we’re back at work later this week. For now, the main thing is getting both of our brains and hearts settled before Wednesday morning. One way or the other, we have to present a single, united message at the press conference, at the very least. We can work on that tomorrow; Hecate knows me too well, telling us not to come back until mid-week….”

She nodded. “You’re right. I tend to do this thing where I try to figure things out that are three steps or more ahead; but life isn’t a chess game all the time. I have to try to remember that sometimes, I have to take things bit by bit to get to that longer-term goal….” _And speaking of bit by bit…._ “Anyway…. I had something I wanted to offer you tonight, Hades….”

“Oh…? Another curiosity from your ever-lengthening list, goddess?” He threw her a cocky grin, winked saucily enough to make her start giggling, and wasn’t it just the cutest thing the way his hand hesitated just that little bit before coming to rest on the tip of her bent knee…?

“No, this one’s one of yours….”

_Holy shit, look at that blush!_

“ _Hehrmm…._ Which one, in particular, did you have in _mind?!!?_ ” He squeaked as her sneaky-drifting foot finally landed on top of his own.

“I was very happy we were able to talk through everything earlier at Voulos’ office, Hades. I know that can’t have been easy for you, and I’m so grateful you trusted me enough to share that with me. I told you earlier, I don’t think we’re, you know, _done_ with all of this, but that was a great start, a healthy start. I want to, um, spoil you a little bit tonight. You shared something vulnerable with me; I think you earned a bit of a reward….”

_Maybe you laid it on a little thick, there, Persephone; I think ya broke him…._

“ _Bedroom, little goddess…?”_

_…._

_Nope, not broken!_

“Sure, Hades, after _YOU!_ ”

She squeaked that time as his arms darted around her, hauling her into the air as he started all but running down the hall to his bedroom. She laughed, though; she hadn’t thought it possible that he could _let go_ enough to literally sweep her off her feet like that.

_He’s usually so careful, even to the point of panicking if he thinks he’s going too far._

_This is a nice change of pace!_

_I trust him; he won’t actually go too far, and if it’s too weird for me, he’ll stop if I ask…._

_But I like how innocent this feels; he likes my feet, it doesn’t seem creepy, just… different…._

Hades rocked to a stop at the foot of his bed, lowering her feet-first to the mattress. She fell backwards into the middle of the thing, laughing openly as he chuckled when her chest _bounced_ a little too much inside her new black tank top. He followed her onto the bed, laying down on his left side, eyes roaming up her body until he found her face as he settled to the sheets.

“Goddess, you know, I’ve never met anyone so willing to accept all of me without question. I can’t tell if that’s just you, or your youth, or something else, but I need to thank you for it. I’ve met a lot of women who think it’s weird how, um, happy touching their feet makes me….”

“…. There’s probably a lot of women who would think it’s weird I won’t just let you show me what sex should be like…. I can tell it makes you happy, Hades; you should have seen your face at the store earlier, I swear I thought you’d propose right then!”

_Oh gods, was that the wrong thing to say, he looks so sad…!_

“…. I almost did….”

 _What the fuck?!_ “…. Really?”

“It was too soon; I’d never do that to you. We’ve known each other a month. There’s still a lot of pieces to this puzzle we’re becoming. I would never put you in that position, to make that huge of a decision when you’re dealing with so much else. But the thought was there; I didn’t realize I was so obvious…. Sorry, Persephone. I’m sorry….”

“…. Don’t be sorry…. No, don’t even start, close your mouth! Please…. I don’t want you to feel sorry about how strongly you feel about me, for me! Hades, I love you. It is a lot, a lot of feelings, and all of them new and confusing, but I am _certain_ that this is love. And one day, definitely, I know I want you to be my husband, and I know I want to be your wife….”

“…. You do…?”

“Oh, Hades, don’t cry!” She tackled him, kissing his cheeks as he pulled her against his chest, and so what if there was a little snot mixed in with the tears both of them were suddenly shedding into each other’s shirts…?

“Yes, Hades, I love you; why wouldn’t I want to marry you?!”

“Dunno, just…. [ _sniffle…._ ] Just seems a little too good to be true….”

_He **still** thinks he doesn’t deserve happiness, dammit!_

“…. You can wait for me, can’t you, Hades…?”

“Of course, goddess, always, as long as you need…!”

“Then I promise you: When I’m ready, _I’ll_ ask _you_ to marry _me_ ….”

He shoved against her shoulders, his eyes darting between her own as he held her still, a smile breaking through the shock on his tear-streaked cheeks like a sunrise in midwinter glinting on fresh blizzard-blown snow.

“You’ll…. You’ll propose… to _me_ …?”

“Mmmmhmmmm. That way, you’ll know it’s my choice, when I’m ready, and you don’t have to worry about _too_ _soon_ or anything….”

He blinked twice, the shock giving way to deep emotions as tears filled his eyes again. He pulled her close once more, nuzzling into the side of her neck with the tiniest kisses she’d ever felt from him.

“Thank you, goddess….”

“You’re welcome, my King….”

It took a few minutes of quiet snuggling before she felt the atmosphere change. It was kind of like the old pressure pumps Mama and the nymphs had engineered years ago to help with irrigating some of the hillier field sections: you built up pressure in the pipes by working the handle, and then you released the tensioner valve. The siphoned water wouldn’t, couldn’t, gush out all at once; there was always an initial geyser of sorts, and then a slowly reducing flow, and you could always tell when it was safe to replace the valve without causing a catastrophic buildup in the pipes.

The valve was slipping back into place now that the most of the built-up flood of surprise emotions was released, and Persephone sat back up on the mattress at Hades’ side. She chuckled. “Well, that’s not quite what I expected, but like I said, I need to stop trying to think so far ahead all the time.”

“No worries, goddess…. Do I still, um, get my treat?”

“Of course! Um, how do you want…. How does this even work?!”

“If it’s okay with you, I’d just like to touch, um, massage a little, maybe? Definitely kiss a bit….”

_…. Look at his pupils, wow, that was fast…._

“Don’t guys like to suck toes or something? Do you want –”

“Ach, no, that’s…. No, it’s not anything creepy like that, Persephone.” She listened as his voice shifted, husky need almost disappearing under mature-experienced-person-instructing-younger-partner confidence. “It’s more that the sight of your feet, the way they’re shaped, and how they move, and how soft and tiny they feel in my hands: all of that just fires off happy hormones in my brain. It’s just…. I’m just wired that way, like how you’re an actual voyeur: you experience pleasure from _seeing_ things, maybe even a little more than _feeling_ things on your own body….”

She nodded; that was an apt description, definitely.

“Okay, so, should I just, um, sit here? Do you want me to do anything?”

“Nothing you don’t want to do….”

_…. That’s a thought; oh, yeah, that’s a **thought….**_

“I’d like to use your fleshlight on you while you play with my feet….”

Hades choked, staring at her for a breathless moment or ten, and then he was rolling backward, scrambling off the bed and to the armoire in the corner by the window wall.

_So that’s where he keeps them…._

He rummaged inside the cabinet, his body blocking her view, and then he was dashing toward the bathroom. The fleshlight thumped to the mattress as he passed, and she collapsed helplessly with giggles as he started stripping out of his shirt on the way.

“Oh, gods, Hades; I didn’t mean to break ya!”

She had to strain to hear his rumbled reply over the sound of her own laughter. “Goddess, I don’t know how you do it, but you just nail every one of my fantasies every _fucking_ time, and it’s like you’re not even trying….”

She finally found her composure when Hades made his way back onto the bed; she promptly lost it again at realizing he was already entirely naked, his penis nearly fully erect, hanging on an angle from his crotch with how he was half-turned on his side facing her. He was chuckling intermittently too, and when (eventually) her breath returned and the smile eased from painfully-stretched to content on her lips, she was delighted at the shining happiness in his eyes where they were locked on her feet.

“Okay, Hades; probably easier if you’re a little more on your backside down this way.” She shifted closer to his hips as he rolled over slightly; he brought his right hand up to adjust his penis to lay along his stomach, and in return, she wriggled her left foot close to his left hand.

_Gods, that little sigh…. Oh yeah, this was a great idea!_

His fingers trailed over her foot, drifting toward the knob of her ankle and then over the top of her arch as she pumped lube into his fleshlight. His eyes met hers, gratitude and pleasure shining out of him like the bond-fire from his memories, and she inverted the toy over his shaft as he held it steady for her.

He moaned as the molded silicone encompassed him, and then he turned a little from his waist, bending himself around her legs as he focused in on her feet.

She turned her attention to noting his physical reactions as she worked the toy on his shaft; she could feel his fingers trailing and pressing all over her feet in careful motions, but she let that awareness fade into the background in favor of her own experience pleasuring his penis for only the third time – and this time, she intended to make it last a lot longer than the previous two times had taken.

When she pulled the toy up, his hips would follow ever so slightly; after a few strokes, she could tell his penis had hardened more fully with the friction. The skin was drawn tighter around the girth, and even his scarred scrotum seemed more taut where it lay against his pelvis, some of the wrinkles smoothed away by the tension.

When she pressed the toy back down, especially if she _twisted_ just a bit down the length of the stroke, his hips would stutter slightly, jerking spastically until she began the next stroke. It didn’t seem to be a movement indicative of pain, but rather an excess of friction sparking along nerves, sensory overload in the making. She experimented with the slight twist going clockwise and counter; both directions produced the same reaction.

She tried different _lengths_ of stroke, as well; based on how his moans were more protracted with the longer strokes back down, where she would bring the toy from only engulfing the tip of his shaft to fully burying his cock in the silicone channel, she knew he preferred to have his entire penis involved in penetration.

_…. Gods, I hope I’m big enough for him, whenever I get to that point. I’d hate for him to be unsatisfied…._

She was excited to discover that she could feel his cock actually twitching inside the toy when she held it fully on him, especially if she bounced the toy in tiny strokes once he was entirely inside it. It felt like if she let go of the toy, she’d actually see it moving back and forth, jerking as his muscles clenched and relaxed rhythmically inside his pelvis.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been playing with his cock and the toy, but she eventually thought she’d satisfied her curiosity enough for the moment; she turned her attention to where her lover was….

_There is no word for that but worship…._

His eyes were half-closed but locked on her face. He had his hands cupped around the heel and ankle of her left foot, one thumb stroking softly up and down the instep. His mouth was not-quite open, soft kisses trailing heat back and forth across the ball of her foot as she watched him, her hands drifting to a stop on the toy.

“Wow, Hades….”

He _purred_ , and a rush of liquid heat had her grinding into the mattress spastically for a moment as her heart danced in her chest.

He looked _wrecked_ , utterly gone, as if his only purpose in life was to continue kissing the bottom of her foot, worshipping her flesh like a relic of power and divinity and he the blessed recipient of her favor.

_Power, here, there’s a power in this…._

She resumed stroking the toy along his shaft, heard his moans increase in intensity, but everything else fell away….

Nothing mattered but watching his eyes as he worshipped her at her literal feet….

Just like the night before, instincts she didn’t know she had and couldn’t consciously have acknowledged outside of the moment told her when to speed up her motions with the toy; she followed what the unspoken voice in her soul hinted would be the right rhythm, a few long and slow strokes followed by quicker, shorter, harder movements.

Hades licked a long stripe up the sole of her foot, and she reciprocated his devotion with a generously slow _twist_ on the next long, slow upstroke.

His hips shot up, he hunched over her foot, his fingers gripping tight around her heel and ankle, and she pushed the toy back down on him as he grunted and moaned as he found his release. She bounced the toy in those speedy, tiny strokes that made his cock twitch inside it, smiling as he thanked her with panting kisses to the top of her foot. She prolonged his pleasure until his shoulders relaxed, a long sigh painting heat over her foot; only then did she stop moving the toy on his shaft, waiting until he laid flat back on the bed with just the fingertips of his left hand stroking dreamily over her foot.

She pulled the fleshlight off of him, watching his cock emerge from the concealing walls coated in white and clear slickness. It continued twitching slightly as it lay there on his stomach, before finally not-quite-shrinking before her eyes. The muscles relaxed, the glans retreating slightly within the upper edges of his re-wrinkling foreskin, and instead of laying _heavy_ on his stomach, it seemed to turn supple, molding to the slight curves of him in an oddly-appealing way as his erection eased.

She startled as his fingers tapped a little on the top of her foot. She whipped her head to look at him, unsure what she’d missed.

“Easy, goddess….” _Awwww, soft-happy again, yay!_ “I was just asking if you like what you see…?”

_Words? Do I know words?_

“Yes…. Very, very much like….”

“Heh…. Thank you, goddess….” His eyes drifted shut, and without further ado, he fell asleep.

_…. Holy wow…._

_…._

_I gotta go clean this toy out…._

She replayed the scene in her head a few times over as she cleaned up and got ready for bed.

_…._

_Who’d’a thought I’d like all that so much!?!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Dunno, just.... [sniffle]...." 
> 
> That's where I cried. I wept actual tears. I started screaming to the sky about my feels. 
> 
> Damn. You. Muses....
> 
> But also, thank you, Muses....
> 
> Anyway. 
> 
> I.... I don't think there's really anything more to say. I laid it all out there with this one. 
> 
> I suppose I should clarify - yes. I do have an actual thing for feet. And it is hard to explain; I tried to make it as clear as possible with how Hades explained it.
> 
> It's not so much a sexy thing, or it doesn't have to be. It's more like, for whatever reason, the sight of feet, noticing feet, touching feet, is actually hardwired into my brain to activate the happy hormones. Feetsies make me happy. That's it.
> 
> Now, pair that in a sexy situation, and all bets are absolutely off. Innocently-gained happy hormones added to the horny hormones?
> 
> Epic. Punch-drunk. Sexy. Wrecked. Hades.....
> 
> I tried to keep it from being too-much, but .... I'm sorry if it was a little intense. Me and the Muses will try to tone it down in coming chapters. This is still an exploration of various kinks; now that we've got this one out of the way, we'll try to move on. Thank you all for giving it an honest try, even if it's still not your thing. No kink-shaming from me, and we appreciate the courtesy returned.
> 
> Happy Friday, all!
> 
> Love from Swoonie and the feetsy-lovin' headspace gang


	7. Intermission

Good evening. This is Swoonie. I'm sorry for the fourth wall break, but this Intermission became a necessity. 

The previous chapter (and others from this series, scattered hither and yon over previous weeks) received a few comments of similar vein that raised concerns I needed to address. In order to ensure that I did not have to consistently repeat myself in various comment threads, or risk being thought callous by referring to this other comment, or that reply in another location, I chose to write this Intermission. 

This, of necessity, will be rather a read; as always, the choice is yours. This Intermission is open to discourse, as all my written words are, in the comment thread below. However, I wish to make clear that _constructive_ feedback - that is, feedback with intent for communication and not mere venting - is what I am open to. No one has vented or been anything but cogent in the comments thus far; I greatly appreciate this....

**First - Issues regarding Voulos and Therapy**

The previous two chapters built Voulos into a slight villain. The previous chapter - 6 - did not have a strong enough warning regarding how off-putting and _wrong_ Voulos, as a therapist, would come across. This has been rectified - the warning. 

Voulos, as he is written, however, must remain. There are elements of both plot and world-building, as well as character development, that are planned for this fic, and these elements rely on the way Voulos **is** in this scene. 

I cannot apologize for _writing_ him; I _do_ thoroughly and sincerely apologize for not providing an appropriate trigger warning. 

I pray I did not engender anyone to avoid seeking mental health care by this error in warning strength. I and friends and family members always vouch for mental health professionals; I cannot state plainly enough that this one scene and character are by far and away NOT THE NORM. I would like to provide assurance that this entire sequence will be addressed in future chapters; Persephone and Hades both will process what Voulos said and did, and things will happen to rectify Voulos' behavior and words. 

** Second - Concerns about Lack of Research and Harmful Presentation of Sexual Ideas **

It has been mentioned that some of the sexual content and scenes in this fic seems to have not been well-researched, or is presented in a way that, if taken as "gospel," would be harmful.

I will say now, here, for the record, that I have in fact done research from various sources, and am continuing to do so on an ongoing basis. I do not "cite", per se, the sources for the most part, for either one of two reasons (sometimes both). The first reason is that some of the material and sources are rather... more explicit (visual in modality, aka porn and similar video media). The second reason is privacy and confidentiality. 

I have mentioned a few sources, I think for other fics, in the past - the blog of one Mr Racy, in particular, has been very helpful in writing the male sensory experiences of anal play, including prostate play, and has provided many other ideas I have yet to actually write for this work and others. That blog can be found at mrracy.com. 

In particular, my Gay-des Adventures series was mentioned as having a distinct lack of preparation. This passage is taken from the first work in that series, Lonely No More:

"Hades worked his index finger past the ring of muscle under Brus’ tightly-drawn scrotum; every so often, he brushed his thumb over the slightly-wrinkled skin of the perineum, listening with a jolt of pleasure to every gasp and moan and groan across the length of the bed. One finger was moving easily in and out; Hades added a second, and just a few strokes later, a third. Brus was obviously no stranger to being penetrated, relaxing nearly instantly with every addition. Hades growled in satisfaction as three fingers stretched apart without resistance inside the golden body."

This is a work of fiction involving non-human entities - god and daemon. There _are_ men, human men, who can accept penetration more rapidly than others. Not every being - human, god, or daemon - needs long and longer minutes of careful preparation. 

The second installment in that series includes the following passage:

"Brus maneuvered his still-lubed hand until his thumb could just brush against the tightly-puckered ring of Hades’ anus. Hades gasped, wanting Brus to know how ready and wanting he was; gods and Cosmos Almighty, it had been far too long. “Needy, beautiful thing….” The thumb pressed in, and Hades _pushed_ , bearing down just slightly, beyond eager for the burn, the stretch, the all-consuming everything of having warm flesh inside his core. Brus laughed brightly as his thumb breached the King’s defenses, his other hand leaving Hades’ ass-cheek only long enough to move a few inches away and then come flying back down for a quick, barely-there _smack_. “Far too needy, my greedy King!” The thumb wriggled, and then left, and Hades shoved his entire body backward with another whine. Brus stopped him, both hands back on his ass and holding him steady, and Hades relaxed into the strength of those bulging arms as he mewled and begged without the words. “Hades, I know you need, okay, but I’m awful huge. I’m going to need you, my dear, to relax, and let me take the proper time to get you good and stretched, okay?” Hades swallowed, realizing his lover was right."

Brus then does go on to strategically prepare Hades to the extent of four fingers. 

In all, I have read probably more than 150 separate works involving male-on-male and male-and-female-with-toy scenes in the last six months. I have quite a few bookmarked. There are some fics that do provide a thorough look at anal preparation and penetration. 

There are others - which I have read but not bookmarked - that do not. 

It is, I think, important to recognize that fanfiction is entertainment. It is not meant to "instruct" even if the purpose of the work itself is an exploration of various scenarios like Dread Curiosities is. 

It is still fiction, about _gods_. It's not supposed to be taken as the next Kama Sutra. 

I choose to believe that people reading this are not utilizing it as such. I have not been told otherwise. I will consider a reminder every so often to the tune of "don't try this at home without proper training...."

But I _have_ done and continue to do research for this work and others. I am not writing these scenes without a base of knowledge of the good, bad, and ugly. 

Now, with specific regard to the preparation scenes in Wick'd and Dread Curiosities: without Persephone being willing to use her fingers or mouth to prepare Hades' rectum to this point, she utilizes a toy - a bullet-shaped anal plug with a longer-than average handle. He also does a goodly bit of the work during penetration and extraction by "bearing down." This is a viable method, even if underutilized in other materials. Again, this is based on research, though my sources must remain anonymous; though MrRacy's blog does touch on some of the factors involved - namely, lube quantity and angles of penetration with toys, as well as positions. 

Again, this is fiction, based on fantasy and paired with research. I am not a sex therapist. I am not a guru. I am writing a story.

** Third - Hades as a Predator and Non-Canonical in Presentation **

Some readers have expressed concern that Hades as portrayed in this series is far too "predatory" for comfort - specifically in reference to the scene in Chapter 2 of this work. 

I would like to point out that Hades already has "chase and capture" methodologies in canon - specifically, the scene where he chases Aphrodite across the parking lot and into her car, even to the point of materializing within the locked vehicle. While this scene is not sexual in context, it does prove that he possesses the feral "gene," so to speak. 

Additionally, Hades takes Persephone into his mind-palace after her encounter in Tower One with Ares. He does not ask permission; he acts. He even goes so far as to change her clothes. This is canon. 

Finally, Hades does in canon have a violent streak. Eyeball.... 

The scene in Chapter 2, Hades' continued internal conflict surrounding his bloodlust, and his primal power are all entwined; for this series, this "alternate universe," he is "more predatory." But this is not without reason or backing, and it is not merely for the kink factor of a feral-Hades. 

There is plot, in the making, for this. 

** Fourth - Imbalance in Hades and Persephone's Relationship in Trellis and Vine **

It has been said that Hades' focus in his sexual encounters with Persephone is one-sided, selfish, and essentially predatory. Their first encounter in Wick'd was cited as primary example, in late Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. The sequence occurred as follows:

Persephone discovered Hades' fleshlight while retrieving medicines for him. She performed some research before Hades emerged hours later. She opened a dialogue with Hades:

"Yes, I’ve been learning more about what it means to be a fertility goddess.... And I realized I’m honestly just… really curious, about a lot of things. It’s not even just that my first real experience with sex was being raped: it’s more that my mother – and no, I still haven’t talked to her yet, I don’t think I’m quite ready for that implosion – but my mother has always acted like sex doesn’t even exist, so I just don’t know much at all…. I mean, mechanics, I guess, are easy enough, but the emotions, the whys and all…. So, when I saw your flesh-light out on the counter, I did _not_ know what it was by name, so I looked it up here."

Hades' response, after extended internal panic is - "I will do my best to answer your questions, but Persephone…. Gods, I’m in love with you, and I don’t think I can answer anything even remotely related to sex without thinking about you, _that way!_ And if that makes you feel ill at ease, I could never forgive myself, not with already knowing what was done to you! So, I need you to tell me if it gets too much, or too intense...."

She replies by kissing him to shut him up, and then Persephone continues the dialogue with "Okay. So, my first question is, were you imagining me when you played with your toy last night?”

Persephone initializes this encounter. Hades follows her lead. And when she begins to be physically aroused for the first time, he puts her first. He offers to help her find pleasure; she accepts; she orgasms, and he does not. 

While Hades is the one to broach the topic of pegging, specifically, to Persephone a week later, he leaves it to her choice. She agrees, and this brings us to Chapter 8 of Wick'd.

We've already covered the preparation sequence above; Hades and Persephone work together to get set up for this encounter, given the not-quite-normal situation with her unwillingness to touch his genitals with her bare skin. Some softness, some hardness, and Hades achieves climax from Persephone and the strap-on. 

Persephone feels powerful, and while she does not achieve orgasm herself, she enjoys the experience. 

The same dynamic holds true in Chapter 4 of Dread Curiosities, with the addition of Persephone allowing Hades to touch her breasts and the pleasure she feels from that exploration.

Once again, Persephone does not achieve physical orgasm, but she enjoys the experience. 

Here's where I feel I must divulge rather a spoiler:

Persephone and Eros are going to talk about her recent experiences with Hades, and Eros is going to express concern about the unequal distribution of gratification in what he hears from Persephone.

Perhaps part of the concern on the readers' part is that Hades is not offering to pleasure Persephone while or after she pleasures him. 

I call your attention to the dynamic established in Wick'd 4 - " _Let her decide…. It’s always her choice…."_

Hades has taken on the submissive role in their developing relationship. He is waiting for her to tell him.

And she's enjoying the way things are. She is not unsatisfied at this time. 

But in every encounter they've shared - with the sole exception of Dread Curiosities Chapter 2 - Hades is simply fulfilling the role he has been for Persephone since the first encounter with the fleshlight. The ONLY thing he has asked her for was the pegging, and he has done his best to put on a good show for his little voyeur with each encounter, which is only fulfilling her desire to "see more of his reactions." 

Basically, they're only technically ... 6 separate sexual encounters into this relationship: Persephone's orgasm from Hades' hand, Hades' in the fleshlight at her hand, Hades' from peg#1, Hades' from feral-lust in DC-2, Hades' from peg#2, and Hades' from feet-and-fleshlight. 

Sure - by the numbers, it's unbalanced; but I contend that satisfaction need not be based solely on the presence or lack thereof of orgasms. However, this "imbalance" will be addressed in an upcoming chapter - and no, not only because concern has been expressed. It was already on the drawing board.

One last point - regarding Hades' stated reluctance to self-pleasure with toys designed for solo play - remember that this is a two-fold statement on his part. First, that he has an old shoulder injury which prevents him from moving his arm into a position in order to more readily facilitate solo penetrative acts without pain; this shoulder injury is alluded to in Wick'd 3 - "His shoulder was screaming; he’d flung his hand up over his head sometime in the night, and his shoulder was half-out of its socket, but he couldn’t move, wouldn’t risk it…." The second component to his statement is that he does not enjoy "riding on top," nor "working too hard for his pleasure." It has been said that Hades then immediately pushes Persephone into the role of gratifier to his need with no regard for her own satisfaction; however, the entire situation only occurs because Persephone _had already agreed_ to peg him. He was merely answering her question of why he didn't choose to self-pleasure regularly. 

This is another topic that will be further addressed, both with Eros and between Hades and Persephone directly, and once more, this is not me backtracking, this was already in the works. 

** Fifth - Too Many and Too Few and Too-much-information in Notes **

I would like to specifically address the topic of my author's notes - both front and end. 

Throughout the months I've been writing fic, I have rather grown into my style of note-providing. I have had a number of readers express gratitude for the presence of the front-notes, as well as the insights and depth I provide in the end-notes.

The last chapter was the first instance I've seen since I began posting in August 2019 where readers said my notes echoed a lack of substance in my works, that the presence of the notes shows I am not doing enough in the actual work's text itself. 

To me, that logic does not track; how can showing a little of the behind-the-scenes thought processes and development of an artform indicate "lack?" The deleted scenes and bonus material in home copies of cinematic films are not considered to demonstrate a lack of material or thought; if anything, the presence of such material showcases the depth, not lack. 

Additionally, were I not to provide the front-notes, I would no doubt have dozens more readers upset with me for not providing them with warnings. I have had enough readers tell me privately that they never read the actual work-tags unless my front-notes snag their attention and they dig deeper.

Neither I, nor any other fic writer, is obligated to provide tags to either the work or notes. That choice is always the writer's own, and yes, while it is courteous to provide warnings for sensitive topics so readers can make choices about what they read or pass by - it is not mandatory. 

I would like to point out that no publicly available novel or work of fiction is required to provide trigger warnings like we seem to expect from fanfiction. JK Rowling did not provide any warning to readers that Harry lived in an emotionally abusive and neglectful environment. We're just hit with that smack in the face in Chapter 2. GRR Martin lets the rumor mill handle his warnings for him; the man would take another twenty years to finish the next book if we needed him to provide thorough content warnings. Stephenie Meyer wrote a story that is as bland and tasteless a depiction of teenage love at first sight as I've ever read, and we got not one warning about the major depression and codependency in New Mooon....

While it may be helpful and appreciated by the community at large to have content warnings, fanfiction is a creative work like any other, and is not bound by mandatory such-and-such except as the creator chooses to bend.

I made the choice months ago to provide notes and tags that sometimes skirt the border of being spoilery in order to provide as thorough a level of information for readers' decision-making process. I can safely say that the majority of readers I've discussed this with appreciate my choice on this matter. 

I will not be changing in this regard. 

With one exception:

I will attempt to dial back the personality and personal-insertion factor of my tags and pre-fic "themes/scenes include" lists. I was not aware that this was unwelcome to some readers, that it is a little too bold and in-your-face. At this time, I will not be editing any previous chapters; but moving forward, I'll see what I can do.

** Sixth - Content in Other Fics I've Written **

Others of my fics have now been called into question regarding content. I've already discussed the concern regarding Gay-des above. 

One fic I wrote last fall I have since taken down. It was a part of the King of Fertile Earth series; it and all mentions referring to it have been removed from this site. 

Yes, that work was set on a plantation, and yes, it included sexual scenes and themes. When I initially posted the work in the fall, another writer mentioned it "might be triggering" as a piece of fic. I made the promise to myself then that the instant that any concern was raised, I'd either rework the setting or pull the fic, most likely both. Nothing occurred until last month. I kept my promise and pulled the fic while I consider what the best course of action is. The vague wording of the commentary I received on that particular work at the time of posting in the fall was intended as a polite way to say "this comes off as insensitive, you maybe ought to just pull it." Last month, I began asking for more "blunt" feedback, in order to avoid future misunderstandings of that nature. 

That fic has been taken down. It was the honorable thing to do after such a mistake, and I do admit that the setting was rather a mistake. I don't deny it, and I am working forward from it. 

Another work I have, Need: Fulfilled, places Hitler in the Underworld for judgment at Hades' hand; afterward, Hades struggles with his darkness. Apparently - and this is the first I'm hearing of this - the piece has been interpreted as Hades comparing himself to Hitler.... I wrote it to reflect Hades' struggles with being like Kronos....

There are comments on that work in particular that express appreciation for having Hades deal with Hitler as a catharsis. I will not be taking that work down, or adjusting it in any way. 

I will not censor myself in that manner on that count.

I have been accused of lesbian and ace erasure....

In my Titans Reborn, which is indeed the first fic I ever started and finished, I pair Hecate and Ares, and they have a son. I address the reasoning why in a dialogue in the comments with a self-described person in the ace spectrum (that's in Chapter 2), and - per that dialogue - I also expanded my end-note to that chapter. Essentially, what I needed was a pairing of personalities to allow for the creation of a specific OC with a rather pivotal role to play throughout the work. Hecate granted her logic and stability, as well as sensitivity and willingness to throw down when needed, and Ares granted his power, his leadership, his perseverance and honor to that OC, their sole son in Titans Reborn. When I began writing Titans, I honestly had completely forgotten that Ares and Aphrodite were a thing in the original Greek mythos, and Ares had not yet been introduced in canon (hence, in Titans, I made him purple-toned, 'cause he's Zeus' boy....); regarding Hecate, I honestly did not interpret her as Ace until it was pointed out to me in that comment, and I was not yet a member of Patreon to have access to any behind-the-scenes material with that information on her character in LO. 

Fanfiction is "transformative" fiction. There's basically an open-ended highway with an innumerable network of byways and scenic detours. I cannot unmake the OC in Primordial Lore who needed Hecate and Ares to be his parents; but, with hindsight and the benefit of more friends on the ace spectrum now than I had then, I am working on a resolution that will - I hope - clear up and assuage any fears that I am trying to push straight-form relationships down anyone's throats. 

Again - this is transformative fiction. It is meant as exploration by its very nature. And I have made every effort in every other work where Hecate features to have her be more canonically-compliant. It doesn't undo what I needed in Primordial Lore, but I do hope it shows that I'm not trying to wash her free of the colors in which Rachel painted her....

While I do not write much in the way of lesbian characters, that is not coming from a place of intent-to-erase. It is entirely and solely because that is not quite my wheelhouse to read or write within. 

I have bisexual and lesbian friends in real-life and virtually-by-internet. I have bisexual family members. I have demisexual family members. 

I am straight.... (Edited on 3 July 2020 to state that I have since come out with another fic, Honey and Steel, as bisexual - though I still am exploring aspects of my personal sexuality, I choose not to edit this section any further at this time. I merely did not want there to be any blatant discrepancies - my "out"-ness as bisexual is much newer than this Intermission; please keep these timelines in mind.)

But I do not purport, intend, or insist that straight relationships are all there is. 

I write gay men. I write nonbinary and a-gendered beings. I write bisexual characters. 

I don't write many lesbian characters because I don't want to fuck it up. I leave that to those that excel at the women-loving-women content.

I hope y'all believe me....

And while we're talking other fics of mine - in the interests of full disclosure and regarding Primordial Lore once again:

In Titans Reborn, I make mention in a few places that Apollo is married to an OC with a child. This fic was begun in August. At that time, the Fox in the Hen House chapters were public. I did not shy away from the matter of the rape merely to have a throw-away cop-out to get Apollo out of the picture. 

I wrote Apollo as having already been punished and then settled down, in a stable, healthy relationship. 

And I did it because one of the major themes in Primordial Lore is that people make choices, and they deal with the consequences of those choices, and they either become better or fail and must be dealt with in a more lasting fashion.

At the time, Apollo's full character had not been developed in Rachel' work. He had raped Persephone, yes, and he was a bad dude, worthy of punishment (I just didn't write the punishment then, I left it in the past of Titans Reborn). 

If I were writing Titans now, I would treat Apollo differently. He would not be the same man we have in Primordial Lore universe at this time; he'd be a lot more broken, he would probably still be imprisoned.... He would still serve his plot-functions in the sequel, Shadows and Truths, but he wouldn't be as... well-treated as I have him now. 

Again, that discrepancy is purely due to timing of when canon became canon and when I wrote the damn thing. 

That is the only change I would make, and merely for consistency across my works. 

So, since we were talking issues of content, there's that....

** Seven - Persephone as Lacking Autonomy **

In Wick'd 7, the exact phrasing of the exchange between Hades and Persephone regarding what's going to happen to Apollo, I feel, is being misrepresented.

The exact wording is: " _He hurt you, as well. Do you wish me to punish him for you, my Queen? / So formal, oh my King. Yes, but I will watch this justice."_

.... I fail to see how that is not giving Persephone her power in that instance. It was well within her right to say No. She chooses to say Yes. 

Hades was within his rights to punish Apollo for the trespassing and hurting Pommie. He was going to beat Apollo's ass one way or the other. He offered Persephone the opportunity to finalize her justice as well. She accepted. 

It. Was. Her. Choice. 

In the following chapter, where Hera steps all over Persephone's toes and then gets in line when Dread calls her out, Hera offers an option, and again Persephone agrees, with addendums. 

In the earlier chapters of DC, we do have more of the same - Persephone is faced with options, and she makes her own choices, usually with alterations or adjustments. 

....

It would be utterly illogical to have Persephone making entirely autonomous choices at this point in her timeline. She's still growing up, and not just growing up, growing into a hella big role as Queen of the Underworld rather all of a sudden. She's been through enormous upheavals for nearly a solid month.

The way she's written in Trellis and Vine is meant to explore her _growth_ , her reclamation of things nearly lost and things stolen away from her. 

Yes, in canon, we see her choosing various paths and practicing autonomy: in the mind-palace with her boundary-setting and demanding Tori's eye be restored; in her planning for how to pay her way out of TGOEM. 

But we also see her deferring to others, bending and molding herself in ways she doesn't like: she agrees to Hera's internship assignment; she won't just stand up and say she wants to leave TGOEM. 

Additionally, the "giving of options" and rather stepping on others' toes by Hades and Hera is also canonical of their characters: Hera staged things so Hades and Persephone would both be at her house for dinner; Hades wrote the check out to Persephone instead of TGOEM directly. 

It is a double-standard to request more canon-compliance in a transformative work while simultaneously ignoring the canonical themes that lend themselves to the exploration the transformative work is doing. 

** Eight ** **\- This Series as Problematic and Damaging**

....

It's not finished yet. There are growth patterns and arcs of development I've barely hinted at thus far. 

Hades and Persephone _should_ make mistakes. They _should_ struggle to find the healthy options for both of them, together, separately, and every which way. They're gods, but their choices and mistakes are very human, or should be as much as possible.

This work is exploring all of that. 

I shouldn't have to explain myself, but I do because I care. 

There are more than 600 fanfics for the Lore Olympus community. 

I have written 27, in five series and some unserialized individual works. 

Even my more "innocent" fics like Aidoneus Rose and Make Me Dance and Beautiful Lady Things and To Hunt the Kings deal with deeper thematics and topics. I rarely manage to write only fluff. (Does Look, Angel! Snow! even count as pure fluff? I think it might.... Okay, I have one pure fluff fic, there we go.)

It's not my forte. 

I write deep shit. I write hard shit. I write the darknesses that may be difficult to look at.

I don't write for everyone; I know this. I know this fan community has more than its share of survivors due to the nature of the story Rachel is telling with Lore Olympus.

I have tried, from the beginning, to construct things so that readers can take care of themselves.

Yes, I've had a few slip-ups in the last couple of months. However, I have rectified each one of them. 

I have not shared the depth of what I've gone through recently. It has no effect on my writing beyond the few accidents of missing or inadequate tags. 

And I am trying to "do better." 

But I will not change the nature of my art. 

And I will not _ask_ another to be burdened with beta-reading my works. I am not opposed to accepting a freely-offered beta at this point, but I think it would have to be unique individual who could work with me. And this is why:

I feel the idea of a beta is being viewed as a sort of "stamp of approval," when in reality a beta-reader, for me, would function more as an alpha-test group on a new software. I would - and have, intermittently in the past - asked for feedback on certain works or sections of works before uploading, regarding whether anything was coming out confusing or off-beat. I appreciate the feedback I received those few times. 

But on this, and all my works, I would only have rewritten a passage if the meaning was unclear in actual wording or paragraph flow. 

I would not change the content of the work.

Most of the feedback I'm receiving seems to be requesting I perform some form of censorship, whether in presenting a character differently or adjusting the plot or scenes to be more palatable. 

While I acknowledge that feedback as valid, even if I had received such dialogue in a beta-stage, I know what my choice would have been to address the point - specific warnings and tags. 

Which I'm already doing to the best of my ability.

Hence, I will not be actively seeking out a beta. 

Call it hubris or pride; name me arrogant or anything you think fits.

Poe didn't need a beta. Shakespeare fucked shit up big time for the hell of it. Tolkien never shied away from pain.

If my work is hated, so be it. I am the same as I have ever been - I tell the stories that fill my headspace with their dark and shadowed Selfs. I can do no otherwise, and I would not wish to. 

I know who I am, and I know what I do best.

If it's not healthy or pleasing to anyone, I blame them not for trying others' fics. 

But it takes all kinds to make the world go round, and the Shadows are as worthy of their time as the Light.

(I began writing this at 11:30 pm local. It's now a quarter after 3 in the morning. I mean it when I say I care about this community, but I also mean it when I say I'm confident my works are worth my time, my effort, and yes, even my choice to spend nearly four hours answering well-constructed feedback that calls much of what I do into question. I will continue to field such feedback, because the dialogue is important, even if neither party can see their way completely to the other side....)


	8. Think. Talk. Think Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not many warnings this time.
> 
> Discussing sexual relations with a third-party outsider who just so happens to be a family member.  
> Discovering sources of power.
> 
> Heavy on the plot. Heavy on the emotions. 
> 
> A rather short, but necessary installment....

Hades finished reading over the draft Persephone had spent the morning working over, and the only thought he could grasp hold of in the roaring-rushing empty space that had been his brain was:

_Intelligent, incredible, incomprehensible woman, how did I get so lucky…?_

He stared at the screen of his laptop, the glass of lemonade dripping condensation onto his track pants. Persephone entered the living room again, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind the couch, a soft chuckle winding strands of iron-glinting vines around his heart.

“Well, Majesty? What does the King think of the Queen’s carefully-concocted press release?”

He swallowed, turning his head to bring his eyes to hers; his nose poked against hers and she pulled back, smirking brightly as he blushed from the slight embarrassment of having a nose too long for the move to have been as smooth as he intended.

_Why isn’t there ever enough air whenever she’s touching me?_

“I could not have written it better, nor would I offer anything to change. It’s perfect, as is the Queen who will deliver it tomorrow….”

She smiled, smug as anything, and even though he’d spoken nothing but the truth, he knew she hadn’t needed to hear it from him:

She knew she’d worked a wonder of words. His compliment was nothing more than her due, and she accepted it, like the Queen she was.

“Thanks, Hades; I tried to use some phrasings that sound more like you, thought it would lend a subconscious level of unification and solidarity when they hear it….” She pecked a kiss to the tip of his nose and released him, moving around the side of the couch to sit beside him. He finally found the air again, a deep breath and a sigh easing his pounding heart as she settled in snugly against his ribcage. Her fingers twirled her phone gently back and forth, and he watched the overhead lights winking off the edges of the screen.

“A very wise decision, goddess; as I said, I could not have constructed it any the better.”

There was a tension in her, he could feel it simmering beneath the surface. Doubts tried to claw their way into the empty space in his mind his awe of her craftsmanship had left behind, but he shoved them away with an effort.

_She’ll talk to me if and when she’s ready. Don’t pry; trust her to trust you…._

“Hades, I…. It’s been a little while since I talked to Eros. I wondered if you’d mind, you know, if I shared, um, all of this with him.”

_That was fast…._

“No, Persephone. I don’t mind at all.”

“But, um, Hades, isn’t he your, you know, great-nephew…?”

_Oh. Well…._

“Yeeeesssss…. Let me think for a moment….”

“Of course.”

They sat quietly; she was still twirling her phone over her lap, and he sipped on his lemonade, careful not to let the cold droplets from the outside of the glass drip onto his little goddess’ hair where it spread in soft waves over his chest.

“Okay. Yes, he’s my great-nephew, but he’s a man grown, and his realm of influence is all things sex. He has never once given me any reason to doubt that he is anything but discreet. In fact, I’d say he is one of the most trustworthy individuals in Olympus, for all that he adores gossip…. I leave it to your judgment. I feel no need to speak with him myself, at this time, but you are still growing into your role as a goddess with powers similar to his own; for that alone, I think I would do anything to help you feel comfortable continuing to talk to him, for your own benefit. I have no qualms about you sharing anything with him that you feel inclined to share; but I would ask you to extract a promise of discretion from him, as I would prefer our private life to remain private while we discover what this whole thing has in store for us….”

“I can do that, Hades. Thank you; that was really worrying me. It just hit me, this morning, that he is actually related to you, and that might be weird! Like, he knew I was interested in you, but it never even occurred to me until today that you were family!”

“…. He knew you were interested in me…?”

“Uh huh! He got my dress made, you know….”

“I figured that much out, but I didn’t know you told him where you got the idea or why you wanted it….”

She sat up, balancing her phone on her knees and pulling her hair into a bun nearly on the top of her head as she replied. “Oh, well, yeah. You’re right, he is very, very discreet; I don’t think he’ll put up too much of a fuss. I’m going to go call him now. Can I borrow the study?”

“Sure, sweetness, as long as you need.”

“Okay!” She captured her phone again as she released her hair, leaned over to place a sweet kiss on his lips, and then bounced up from the couch. “Don’t work too hard while I’m on the phone! We’re supposed to be relaxing now that we’ve got the press release figured out!”

His little goddess disappeared down the hall to his study, and Hades chuckled as he took another sip of his lemonade.

_As my Queen commands…._

* * *

“And, well, that’s pretty much everything!” Persephone giggled, wiggling her feet back and forth in the air above her hips; she was laid on the sofa in Hades’ study, her phone balanced on the back of the couch above her, and she was giddy, riding the waves of happiness that had swelled within her as she related the past couple of weeks to Eros. She’d even told him about the feet stuff from yesterday, and she glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering how nearly a half-hour could have flown by like seconds.

She waited for her friend to say something, to start squealing with glee or make choking noises of suppressed enthusiasm, but there was nothing coming from the phone.

“Eros…?” She picked up the phone, rocking up to sit cross-legged and sideways on the sofa. “You there? Don’t tell me I’ve been talking to a dead phone for half an hour!”

“No…. I’m here….”

“Eros, why do you sound upset…?”

“…. Okay, Persephone, please don’t think I’m judging you, because I’m not, but… I have some questions. I’m a little worried about some of the aspects of the situation you’ve described, and I…. I’d like to ask some really blunt questions….”

“Um, sure, I mean, Hades and I are really liking the plain talk kinda thing. Go ahead. What’s worrying you?”

“Okay. Um, just to clarify, you have only had one orgasm, and that was on the first day of all this. Is that right?”

“Uh huh….”

“Okay. And Hades has, um, achieved climax multiple times since then….”

“Yeah….”

“Persephone, are you satisfied, or is he leaving you wanting…?”

_…. What…?_

* * *

_Oh, come on. That is NOT worth three thousand drachma. I made higher quality gemstones as a fuckin’ infant, for crying out loud!_

“Hades…?”

He thumbed the mute button, turning off the irritating antiques appraiser in mid-diatribe about the luster ( _nonexistent_ ) and faceted beauty ( _chipped_ _and_ _scuffed_ ) of the ring presented for valuation. He spun around on the couch, throwing his left arm over the back, to see Persephone with a look on her face that was somehow a mixture of worry and haughty defiance.

“Yes, sweetness…?”

“Eros and I have been talking; he’s worried about a few things, and we’ve talked about some of it, but it…. I think it would be better if we aired all of this between all three of us…. Can I put us all on speaker?”

Hades took a slow breath, trying to shove the panic down, the fear away. What under the stars could his great-nephew be worried about?

_I honestly didn’t even think the boy had the capacity to **be** worried!_

“Of course, sweetness. I told you, anything you need from me.”

“Thank you.” She came to sit on the couch, so far away across the length of the thing, and she placed the phone between them on the coffee table, on top of his closed laptop. “Eros, can you hear me?”

“Yep.”

“Hades is here, too.”

“Hey, boy.”

“Sorry, Uncle H, I…. I know this is going to be intensely awkward, but…. Can you be honest with me?”

“I try to be honest all the time; I will do my best now, as well.”

“Alright. Are you using Persephone for your pleasure at the expense of her own satisfaction?”

“…. How…. H-how do you g-g-get that?!”

Persephone held a hand out toward him, her voice commanding and everything he knew he needed in that moment. “Hang on, Eros. That is rather an accusatory way to ask that. Hades, Eros was worried because, technically, I’ve only had one orgasm, and you’ve had a few. I…. I tried to explain it to him, but he wanted to hear it from you. Why have you not offered to pleasure me, before, during, or after I pleasure you?”

 _Okay. That makes more sense…._ “Because that first day, I promised myself that I would follow your lead. I would wait for you to tell me what you wanted. I would not ask you for anything I couldn’t do without, and I would let you lead these explorations, in your own time, in your own way.”

“If I asked you, right after this phone call, to do a whole bunch of stuff for me only, would you?”

“Gods, yes, but you’re not serious, are you, goddess?!?!”

_Shut up, dick, shut the hell up!_

“That was hypothetical, Hades…. Sorry….”

_Dammit-dammit-dammit…!_

_Breathe, old man, you’re gonna have a stroke…._

“…. S’okay, goddess. I know you needed to make the point.”

“Eros, you get that?”

“…. Yeah. Okay. I just…. I was trying not to doubt, but…. Well, maybe I’m projecting my own needs onto you, Persephone. It’s just, there’s not a lot of us fertility deities around, and I guess I assumed you needed to have that physical release like I do, like my mother does…. Sorry.”

Hades cringed. “…. I really didn’t need to know that, boy.”

“Ooops.”

“Eros, I…. I did enjoy it, but…. It’s hard to explain. I don’t think I’m quite ready to feel that loss of control that often. It felt like I had no control over my body, and I did enjoy it, but I still feel like I’m processing from that. To top it all off, um, I think my body…. I think I should say it feels like it’s slowly waking up; like, I get these little tingles, these little hints, and sometimes they’re big, and sometimes not, but they’re just…. They’re just hints, it’s not really a big full-blown need for anything more right now.”

Hades listened to Persephone, memorizing every word, shocked at the change in her tone, her entire demeanor. This wasn’t a shy, young, curious goddess considering her experiences:

This was the voice and power of a fertility goddess hunting explanations for something entirely her own….

A Queen, claiming her life and putting words to her heart and mind….

_Keep going, goddess; find the truth of your self…._

“But, and this is what’s really hard to explain: when I see Hades in his pleasure, there _is_ this release. But it’s not like the orgasm he gave me the week before last. It doesn’t seem to be physical. It starts in my head, and around my heart, and it covers my whole body in light. I can feel it, and it’s… pleasurable, and it leaves me feeling complete. Satisfied.

“At first, I thought it was just the power of being in charge when we have sex, but I’ve been thinking for a couple days now, and I think it’s more. I think it actually has to do with _seeing_ Hades find pleasure. I mean, we know I’m a voyeur, but it can’t be that simple, can it?”

She looked to Hades then, and he tried to shrug his shoulders; he truly didn’t know the answer to her question, but damned if he didn’t love her more now than he ever had before.

_She feels power from making me come…._

_She’s fucking perfect!_

“Wow, Persephone….” Eros’ voice from the dimly-lit phone was rather breathless and hollow, but Hades knew it wasn’t the connection. The boy was shocked. “Um, okay, don’t get weirded out, okay, but yeah, it is that simple. You’ve found your realm of influence….”

Hades and Persephone stared at each other with their mouths hanging open.

_Fucking. Hell._

“You sure, Eros? I mean, um, how can being a voyeur be a realm of influence…?” He could tell Persephone was trying not to laugh; he wasn’t far behind.

“Okay, look here, Perse. Every deity has their _thing_ , you know? Like, Poppa Zeus has the lightning, and Uncle Po’s got fish, and Hades there has gems. But those are just powers. Realm of influence is the thing that makes a deity _tick_ , the thing that fulfills their soul and makes their other powers stronger. For my mom, her realm of influence is admiration, being admired for her beauty. She’s incomplete without adoration, from every quarter. She needs it, like air. For me, it’s sex, specifically experiencing sex and the hormones that go along with that. I need that, I feel incomplete and out of whack without it.

“You need to see, to share that experience, with another deity, or maybe you need to be the cause of that, but either way: that’s why you get that feeling. I call it a soul-gasm, and it’s exactly what you described. It’s like an orgasm, but it’s not physical, it’s purely, um, soul-based….”

Hades watched the information settle into Persephone’s mind; her careful consideration faded beneath an awestruck awareness, an acceptance of what her friend had said striking against her as truth, pure and undeniable. “So, it’s…. It’s something I actually need, maybe even more than actual physical sex?”

“Maybe, but maybe not. That’s for you to figure out, Perse; but I tell you this right now: I’m sorry I questioned ya. You knew what you needed, and you were getting it, even if you didn’t know quite why. I won’t question you on this ever again; you’re damned lucky you figured this out so soon! It took me ages and ages; gods, I was an idiot….”

Persephone giggled a little at the ruefulness in Eros’ voice; Hades was reeling, but he wouldn’t ruin this moment for her.

It wasn’t every day a goddess of so few years discovered the truth of her soul….

“Thanks, Eros. Um, could I let you go? I think we broke Hades….”

He stared at his lap, not sure how he’d given himself away this time. “Sorry….”

“It’s all good, Uncle H. Baaaiiii!”

Persephone’s phone pinged with the _call ended_ tone, and she was snuggling into his lap in the next breath. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his forehead on the top of her head.

“Hades, what’s going on in that big blue head of yours?”

He smiled; that at least he could do. “I’m not quite sure…. Need a minute….”

She traced her fingers over his chest, painting random shapes around his pectorals, dancing over his collarbones. She waited patiently, more patiently than she should have had to, for him to answer her simple question.

“I…. I think I’m just, um, in awe of you again, goddess…. You know the truth of your power now, and you can use this to become someone even stronger than you already are. You can already grow living things in the land of death, in Tartarus even, the deadest place in this land of dead things…. I cannot begin to fathom how powerful you will become, now that you not only have access to your realm of influence, but now that you know beyond any doubt what it is…. And I…. I feel incredibly lucky, beyond lucky, that I’m the one you’ve chosen to be with, that I get the honor and privilege of giving you what you need…. I don’t think I deserve it, but…. Here you are, the most perfect being I’ve ever seen, and you want and need me…. I’m overwhelmed, sweetness….”

The tears were overwhelming his eyes now, too, but she maneuvered her head out from under his face, swiping the droplets away with warm fingers, gentle fingers, tiny fingers that held so much power over his heart in every quiet touch.

“I’m the luckiest goddess ever to have the perfect man for me, right at my fingertips….” She captured his face between her hands, and his Queen claimed him with a kiss as potent as life itself.

He still wasn’t sure he deserved this perfection, but he’d live every day of eternities striving to please this powerful goddess who had decided he was right for her….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told y'all there was world-building surrounding all of this....
> 
> ....
> 
> I'm just gonna leave it at this for now. I enjoyed writing Eros being the source of doubt; he's usually so supportive, and while he is supportive even in his doubt, having him question Persephone and Hades was a unique experience. 
> 
> I'm not quite sure yet where the Muses are going to take me from here. There's a couple of plot points that are somewhat interchangeable in the coming timeline; the only real defining factor is whether we go for another Curiosity next, or jump right into Wednesday. 
> 
> I'll let the Muses hold the reins for now. 
> 
> Good night, dears.


	9. Pressing Persuasions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings within for
> 
> Blatant public discussions of Persephone's rape.  
> Anxiety of varying kinds.  
> Power-based demonstrations between monarchs and from monarchs to citizens.
> 
> It's Press Conference time....

Hades twisted his gloves between his hands, the motion a poor mimicry of the squirming inside his stomach. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, doing his damnedest to ignore the naggy little doubts rocketing through his mind.

_She won’t show up._

_You’ll step all over her toes._

_The reporters will be assholes._

He turned away from the doorway that led to the hidden stairwells connecting this mid-level floor to the uppermost penthouses above; she’d been setting up in her new office all morning while he tended to the various tasks that had only barely waited for his return to work, and now….

Now he was waiting for her to arrive for their press conference, the reporters (without their photographers, of course) were murmuring in the room down the hall and around the false-walls, and he was panicking like it was his first public appearance as King….

_You’ll stutter; you haven’t stuttered at a press conference in centuries!_

_They’ll insult her; they’ll call you a creep and a pervert; everything’s going to go wrong!_

_You’re gonna fuck this up!_

“Hades?”

The doubts withered in the light of her smile, and something beautiful sprouted where they’d tried to strangle his heart. Her simple black dress was fitted to her curves like a river of shadows, but thankfully (terribly) his body stayed silent while his emotions tried to find their proper places in his mind.

“Goddess…?”

“You okay? You seem nervous….”

“Nervous? Why should I be nervous? Not my first press conference; it is yours, are you okay?”

She stepped closer to him, adjusting his tie to lay directly over the line of buttons descending his chest. He kept his hands tight in front of his waist, not sure what was appropriate, not sure of anything except he loved her and he needed this to go right.

_She’s my Queen, and this has to go right…._

“You’re nervous; please don’t try to hide it from me. I don’t have to have a link to your mind to feel it, Hades; you’re trembling….”

She flattened her hands over his abdomen, halfway between his pecs and his belt, and somehow, his pounding heartbeat slowed, his too-taut ribcage loosened, there was air again….

“…. I’m just t-t-terrified something will go wrong. If they insult you, or what if they s-sn-snuck in a camera somehow, or you get scared…? I need this to go right, and it’s out of my hands, and I’m just….”

“…. Okay. I hear you. If they snuck in a camera, you can confiscate it. If they insult me, I’ll verbally kick their ass. If I get scared, I’ll tell you, and we’ll figure it out…. Do you trust me to be honest with you while we do this?” He nodded, settling into the confidence layered throughout her voice like shadows under the sun. “Okay. Good. Thank you…. I’m the Queen, and you’re the King, and we can do this, together. We don’t have to go off script; let’s just go do what we came to do, and then we’ll run upstairs and hide for the rest of the day.”

He chuckled, and she hugged him around the middle. The image was there again, in his mind, and this time, he knew he couldn’t ignore it.

“Persephone, there’s one more thing…. I didn’t want to spring it on you, but…. It’s not the officially-done thing, but it would definitely have an impact….”

“…. Then tell me, and it’s not springing it on me. What more impact do we need than telling the world who I am…?”

“A crown….”

He tucked his gloves into his pocket and cupped his hands in front of his navel. It didn’t take much at all to open his mind to the energy that had been swirling just out of his reach for days now; it had been stronger, all day, since they arrived at Tower One, the seat of his power, reaching through him for her, begging acknowledgement and release.

Her crown materialized over his palms with a fizzle of power and sparks of electrostatic discharge, and she gasped, stepping back softly; her black ankle boots _tocked_ against the granite tiles.

“Hades, it’s….” _Too much, I know, but please, please take it…._ “It’s exactly like I dreamed it….”

_…._

_Perfection…._

She came closer once again, her fingers brushing over the spires of obsidian, trailing down the curve of the iron band. He felt her power spiraling, finding the connection in the crown his power had called into being for her claim, joining her in this new and necessary way closer to his realm, their realm, their bond….

“I had thought, if you would like, I could manifest it for you at the big reveal…. Like I said, dramatic effect.”

“…. Probably best; I don’t know if I could call it out of the aether correctly. Don’t want to fucking lose my crown before I even wear it the first time!”

She smirked up at him, and he grinned down at her.

_There’s my Queen…._

* * *

The pale blue carpet of the conference space was a welcome change from all the black marble and cold stone and steel of the rest of the building; Persephone knew it was most likely for the acoustic properties the soft fibers would lend to the giving and hearing of carefully-prepared statements of State, but she made a note to check into maybe… brightening up some of the more public places in Tower One….

After all, she wasn’t just becoming the Queen beside Hades himself; she deserved to be represented, known for her own contributions….

And images mattered….

She believed Hades when he said the “public” image he projected was utterly different from who he was in his soul. She’d been to the banks, seen his portraits hung dramatically there and in other areas of his domain; the painting at Hera’s had been _closer_ to the “real” him, the Hades she saw in their home, in his bed when he gave control of his body over to her growing confidence, but still….

_He’s worn the mask people expect of him for so long, he’s just as scared of facing himself as I am, though in totally different ways…._

She approached the podium at the front of the room, the pomegranate-and-bident-marked banners on the wall behind them framing them in power; she could almost feel the _impact_ of the staging Hecate had overseen in the way the murmuring faded to silence as she and Hades took their places.

_At least we’ve got each other now. I can help him reconcile who he wants to be with who he thinks he has to be, and he can help me find who I’m becoming…._

As Hades reached for the microphone, she stared toward the back wall as Hecate had suggested. By avoiding making eye contact with any one reporter this early in the conference, she would project a confident, stalwart air: power, poise, preparation and protocol. The coal-colored blankness of the wall drew her focus, distracting her from the soft whine of feedback as Hades adjust the arm of the machine.

_And we’re going to start with some decorations, I think. The Underworld is a cold place, but it doesn’t have to be like stone; where’s all the “built on love” he was talking about…? He’s lost that over the years. I can bring that back._

“Thank you all for gathering on such short notice. We also appreciate your willingness to cooperate with the slightly stricter regulations for this conference, regarding the cameras. Hopefully, our words today will suffice for your readership; you’ll have to rely on your imaginations for the rest.”

A soft chuckle made its way around the room, and a few of the reporters began scribbling on small notepads. By the way a few of them eyed Hades askance, she thought they sensed a bit of a change in the King. She’d never seen one of his press conferences before, but she knew in her soul he was in fact different than the morning she’d met him officially, there beside his pool with his hellhound threatening her very life….

_He’s more at ease, even though he’s nervous…._

_He’s excited to show me off…._

_…._

_Hell yeah…._

“Now, we know things have been a little, shall we say, confusing and rumor-ripe the past few days. This press conference has been called to file away those rumors and erase those confusions with the facts. For this, I’ll hand the conference over to Persephone, Goddess of Spring and an intern working in the Archives of Shade Records. We ask you to hold all questions at this time; we’ll open the floor shortly. Persephone?”

Persephone stepped forward; the podium was sized for her, so she knew it looked child-sized as the King bent over it to adjust the microphone for her. She placed her own hand below his on the ridged metal arm, taking over the control, and he blinked slowly in deference as he stepped slightly to the side, away from her, leaving her alone before the throng.

Her speech was arrayed on the angled wooden surface of the podium, and she glanced down at it for a brief moment, making sure her bolded words and headings were clearly visible.

“Thank you, Lord Hades…. Though I have only been working at Underworld Corps for about a month, I feel like this realm is becoming a home to me. I am young, that’s no secret; I’ve not seen much of the world, or the other realms, but I feel strongly about _this_ realm, for reasons that will become clear soon.

“These are hard truths to say, and harder still to hear, but there is absolutely no use in hedging around them to spare anyone’s feelings. I began attending Olympus University a little over a month ago, and I was living with Artemis in Olympus at the time. One night, while I lay sleeping in my room, with the door closed, Apollo entered my room, woke me by physically laying his hands on my person, and then proceeded to confuse me, tell me I’d been ‘asking for it all day,’ and finally he raped me.”

She felt a shiver crawl up her spine; even though she’d said it more frequently, even shouted it at her mother and Zeus just a few days before: her body’s reactions were still there, fear and pain and confusion throwing anxiety into her mind. Hades’ hand flattened itself over her shoulder-blades, supporting her and stopping the shiver stealing her wits like a brick wall thrown up before a line of ants. She took a breath, leaned carefully into his support, and grew strong once more on his trellis of love.

“It took me some time and a few caring friends, but I finally came to grips with the knowledge that it was in fact rape, what Apollo did to me. I was confused at first, but I am not anymore. I was raped. But I am recovering. But that is not the entire story….

“Apollo continued to stalk me, claiming we were dating, and no matter how many times I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I wanted nothing to do with him, that he needed to leave me alone, he would not get out of my life.

“When I first came to the Underworld, Lord Hades offered me his assistance with anything I might need. He is a kind person, and a gracious ruler, and I knew I could ask him for help with what I needed then. Two weeks ago, I came to the Underworld once more, and asked him to help me find a place to stay, because Apollo does not come here.

“And for a while, everything was great. I continued working; I made friends; and Apollo was nowhere to be seen, and I could breathe. I filed for a sabbatical from University, because I decided to focus on my work here and regaining my mental health. I was finding my place, in every sense….

“Until Friday morning….

“Apollo came to the Underworld; while he was by no means banned or barred from entry, he entered the realm with the sole intent of finding me. He did; I was at Hades’ home that morning, and Apollo arrived without warning on Hades’ doorstep. Cerberus stood by my side as I confronted my rapist, but Apollo still refused to leave me alone, or to leave Hades’ home.

“Apollo threatened me. He blackmailed me. He accused me of being a king-fucking slut. He vowed to tell my mother that I was ‘shacking up’ with the King. He insulted Hades, as well…. Apollo hurt one of Hades’ dogs, and then attempted to physically harm me.”

The silence in the room was profound. It seemed that her words were a spell; if she chose, she could bend this entire congregation to her will, to any end she chose.

**_Power…._ **

“Hades came to my call for help. He removed Apollo from his home, sending Cerberus to drag my rapist to the mortal realm while Hades tended to me and his dog. Pomelia is fine now, and I was not physically hurt in the altercation. Hades destroyed Apollo’s car, parked illegally on Hades’ drive without permission. He had already decided to take his vengeance from Apollo’s flesh for the harm dealt to Pomelia’s innocent self. Those rights are his by law and tradition.

“He then asked me if I would also like to see my justice taken from Apollo’s flesh by Hades’ own hand. At this time, the King was fully in his most-ancient power’s embrace, and I was… eager to have done with my rapist.

“I granted the King the permission to extract my own justice from Apollo. I declared that I would watch.

“We arrived in the mortal realm, and were confronted by the senior members of The Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood, of whom I was receiving a scholarship, and also the Monarchs of both Olympus and Ocean. I informed these others of what I have now told you, and Hades did what he needed to do to see us both receive our compensation in ichor for the harm done to us and our loved ones….”

_…. Oooops…._

She turned to peek at Hades from the corner of her eye; he was trying not to smirk, but she felt a gentle touch from his mind through their still-new-and-strange link.

_It’s up to you, goddess. Play it off, or run with it. I follow your lead, to whatever end…._

“Ahem…. It should be no secret any longer that while Hades and I sought our justice from Apollo, both he and my own self were fully invested in our Primal forms. We stood together on that mortal plane, and we worked together to achieve our mutual goals….

“This is truth of what happened on Friday. Neither Hades nor I can deny it, and we do not wish to see it blown out of proportion or made out to be something it is not.

“For whatever reason, I, Persephone, Goddess of Spring, am in fact the Queen of the Underworld, beside Lord Hades himself….”

She felt the power sparking and fizzling over her hair as Hades sent her crown through the aether to rest upon her head. The gasps and whispers of awe stoked something warm and hungry inside her chest; instinctively, she knew what it was:

_Worship…. I’m feeling their worship…._

She raised a hand, commanding by the quiet motion a return to silence. The reporters obeyed, and the hunger inside her chest settled down, sleeping, but not unaware of the action.

_Waiting…._

“By traditions more ancient than anything commonly known today, my place and role as Queen is not, at this time, dependent on a relationship to Hades of the more contemporary varieties. By this, we mean that we are not, in any sense, engaged to be wed, or pursuing that at this time. It is important for now to maintain this distinction; it is more as if two corporations with a shared consumer base are joining forces to grow into a larger, more capable conglomerate.

“We are not ruling out a more union-based situation in the future; but for now, this is all incredibly new, for both of us, and we must take things as they come.

“For now, I will be continuing my work in the Archives, and Hades’ roles will not be changed. I will learn more about what it means to rule a realm from the King, and we’ll determine what works for us and the good of the realm over the coming months.

“We appreciate your support during this transition and change, and we would like to assure you that further developments will be announced in the right time, for the right reasons, for the good of all Underworld citizens….”

On cue, Hades moved back to her side; he did not adjust the microphone: rather, he projected his own voice a little more forcefully over the heads of the reporters to compensate. “We will now take a few questions; we appreciate your respect and decorum in this….”

Silence.

Persephone had to stifle a giggle.

_Well, I certainly didn’t expect this!_

The reporters weren’t exactly staring at the two of them behind the podium, but it wasn’t clear if they were too scared to speak or just had no questions to ask.

Hades cleared his throat, sounding nervous again; Persephone gripped his hand behind the shelter of the podium’s base, and felt him trying to relax as she spoke into the microphone. “No questions? Not one…?”

A jade-colored minotaur near the back stood; his goatee marked him as a little older than her friends from University, but she thought he was still young by how his eyes boggled a little bit, giving away his nerves. “Ahem, I think I speak for most of us when I say that this… while unexpected, is by no means an unwelcome development. And, again, though unanticipated, your explanations, Lady Persephone, leave little enough to the imagination. I for one have no questions of either clarification or curiosity, beyond the obvious of the possibility of a royal wedding. But again, you’ve answered that clearly already, so….”

The minotaur sat, and Persephone chuckled as many of the other reporters nodded in adamant agreement.

Hades scoffed, just once and very quietly; in the silence filling the room, the sound was audible, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or care….

“If this was what it took to get you people off my back, I’d have prayed harder for a Queen centuries ago….”

The laughter was nothing but good-natured and happy, and the smile Hades turned on her held everything in his eyes.

_Oh yeah…. That’s my King…._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we had some politickin, we had some emotions, we had some further power-and-instinct developments....
> 
> We had Persephone bein' a bad-ass natural at this Queen thang!
> 
> And gods, Hades being nervous boi about public speaking for the first time with his Queen....
> 
> I've done public speaking before. I tried to bring in a few personal touches - the bolded words and headlines to guide through the speech, the focusing on the back wall, the awareness of not only what's before you but how you're framed in front of whatever's behind you....
> 
> Anyhoo....
> 
> Have a few different ideas on just what's coming next - including, perhaps, a surprise cameo from some delightful... ahem... Primordial deities you've never seen quite like this before....
> 
> You know, my favorite darkling ones.... But I'mma maybe do them up a little differently....
> 
> We'll see....
> 
> ALSO! I have a treat in the works for my little ones. 
> 
> Wick'd is so fukken close to 5000 hits. 
> 
> Once it gets there, I'm going to upload a companion piece to Wick'd Chapter 7: Thorns. It's not very long, but I think you'll all enjoy it....
> 
> It's a few scenes from Thorns, told from Cerberus' point-of-view....
> 
> "Fangs" will be your treat when Wick'd gets 5k views. So, tell your friends, spread the word, or go back and read it over yourself!
> 
> I'll see you all in the shadows of Underworld again soon!!!! Ta!
> 
> -Swoonie and her various darkling Titans and hyper-active Muses sharing her headspace.


	10. Discoursing with (My, Your, The) Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Hades discusses an instance in his past of rather self-harm types of behavior: specifically, refusing to eat. This might be triggering for some individuals; please remember to take the proper care of yourselves, little ones. 
> 
> We also have Persephone thinking about making some changes to habits and ethics she's had forced upon her by her mother.
> 
> And we have some god-power-fueled territoriality and fear/anxiety.
> 
> And some Darkness....
> 
> Grab your yogurt. We're back (but not the same as before)....

Hades followed Persephone into her office, his eyes following her hand as she gestured here and there. “I was thinking about having some paintings done up for the wall there over the sideboard, and definitely one over the sofa; I’m thinking landscapes, there’s some really wonderful vistas back home I think I’d like to remember. And I know it’s not quite normal for the current décor schematics, but I really think I’d like some curtains for the windows: just a little softer touch, you know?”

She turned to look at him, leaning against the desk before the window wall, her hands cupping the edge as she waited for his reply.

_Why. Is. There. Never. Enough. Air?!_

She smirked, bouncing up onto the edge of the desk and swinging her feet in those black ankle booties back and forth, bonking the heels against the dark-stained wood front panel. Her hands ghosted up beside her ears, grasping her crown and carefully pulling it free of her curls and gently-hairsprayed waves. She brought the arching band with towering spires of gemlike stone down in front of her face, her eyes following it as she placed it on her lap like a whittled horse, poised on the tapered ends of the band.

“I still can’t believe how perfect it looks…. I mean, I know I haven’t told you about that dream, but Hades, it’s absolutely exactly right….” She looked up, and the soft shine of tears in her eyes finally shoved some air down his throat. “Thank you, my King….”

“It was my pleasure, goddess….”

“So, we said we’d hide up here. Can we order in some food? I’m actually hungry now that that’s all done!”

Hades nodded, pulling his phone from his pocket. Neither he nor Persephone had eaten much before coming in to Tower One: too many nerves, too many things to think about.

“Sure, me too, I suppose. What do you think you’re in the mood for…?”

“Well….” She hopped down from the edge of her desk, turning to place her crown on the glass-topped surface; Hades made a mental note to make a note in his phone after he ordered lunch to have a coronet-stand made and brought to her office. _At least until she can learn to summon and store her crown through aether…. Another note: who does she want to practice with, me or Hecate?_ “I was thinking pizza, but I wondered something….”

“Always curious is my goddess….” They laughed together, moving to the sofa as if they’d shared their minds again to make the decision. “What were you wondering, sweetness?”

“Well, I…. A few things, actually, and they’re all kind of related to each other and twisted up around each other…. Lemme see if I can say this right…. For the most part, it was momma’s choice that I’m a vegetarian. I eat eggs and drink milk and I like cheese and ice cream, but it was _her_ choice to never have actual meat dishes on our table. I think I’d like to, I mean, at least try meat, just to see if her choice is also going to be mine long term. But, I mean, you certainly don’t eat _much_ meat, Hades; I just wondered if you could explain to me why you do. I can tell you value life, and that was momma’s excuse for us not eating meat, but….”

_Oh fuck…._

“I…. Um, I don’t know if now is a good time for this discussion….”

_Well, that was the wrong thing to say, now she’s gonna want to know why you’re hiding, what you’re lying about, why you won’t just answer…!_

“Hades, I respect that you have things in your life that you’re not proud of; if you don’t want to share whatever this is with me, I’ll wait. I can do that for you, you’re doing that for me on things, too. But I guess it worries me that there’s something else you feel you can’t share with me, something that makes you hate yourself or feel ashamed. And don’t lie and say you’re not feeling ashamed: your eyebrows do this one little dip when you get like this….”

_Shit, I didn’t even know that!_

“…. Okay, it’s not a fun story…. My f-f-f….” _Breathe, Hades…._ “My father attempted to escape about sixteen-hundred years ago. We barely had enough warning before he was wreaking havoc. And, like always, it came down to me, squaring off with him….”

She gripped his hands in hers, and somehow, though he didn’t think it could be possible, a warmth that felt of strength and power flowed through the touch of her fingers on his. He could do this, could explain, and she wouldn’t think him monstrous for his choices….

Somehow, she’d understand, even if no one else could, not even Hecate….

“The borders were locked down; even if he broke me, he wouldn’t be able to breach the lines. That’s why we have the borders: it’s not to keep the shades in, or beings from the mortal realm or Olympus out. Part of ruling this realm is knowing that there’s always a chance that something could go down, down here, and even if we failed, the other realms would still be safe…. In a sense, we’re trapped here for better or worse, but, in the end, it would save thousands….”

She nodded, thoughtful and accepting. “That is a very honorable way to look at it; thank you for telling me. I don’t quite have a choice, because I belong here, but thank you for not hiding that from me any longer than you did. Go on?”

“…. Well, I…. I don’t remember much of the fight, but obviously, um, I won. We locked him back down, and I…. You thought this weekend was a bad spiral? I am sorry to say that I was utterly lost in my own mind for nearly two weeks after that fight…. When I finally started to come out of it, Hecate thought the best thing for me would be to get back to normal.”

“What about Voulos…?”

“Oh. No, see, this is how I met him….”

“Ohhhh!”

“Yeah…. Hecate brought in the reports; we started working on rebuilding what the fighting had destroyed; she had already hired consultants and brought in mages and artificers from half a hundred foreign countries to supplement our security systems…. For a few days, I went through the motions, and she basically ran the realm, and I’m eternally grateful to her for her strength. But then, well, I guess she realized I wasn’t eating…. She started scheduling our conferences for meal-times, and she all but cut my food up for me to try to get me to eat….”

“…. Because he ate you, and you had to face him again, you didn’t want to eat…?”

He heard the confusion in her voice, but he ignored it, needing to get the rest of the story done. Maybe then, she’d understand….

“Another couple of weeks went by like that. We’re immortal, and some of us are not a little invincible. We can’t exactly starve to death…. I wasn’t trying to die, but I just….” _Breathe…._ “Hecate was at her wits’ end trying to snap me out of it, and I was putting up one hell of a fight. I don’t remember much; things were still hazy, but I knew I would defy her to my last breath. I couldn’t do it….

“I couldn’t give in; if I did, I thought I wouldn’t be able to stop….

“I don’t really know whether Hecate sought out Voulos or he sought her out. Either way, she brought him into my office, and he sat down, and I ignored him, if I even realized he was there, I really don’t know.

“But I definitely registered when he told Hecate to order up a steak, rare, bloody as hell….

“I got terribly angry. And irresistibly hungry….”

He paused, the waves of remembered starvation pangs roiling through his stomach. His fists clenched a little around Persephone’s hands, involuntarily, and she wriggled her wrists to draw his attention. He relaxed with an effort, took a breath, and forged on.

“For a month at that point, I’d still been fighting to ignore the blood lust. I didn’t have anyone sharing my bed or heart at that time, so it was all redirected to another type of need. Hunger. Pure, raw, and overwhelming.

“And Voulos was blatantly stoking that, fueling it, trying to sate it.

“And I hated him for it. I nearly killed him where he sat; that’s how out of control I was. He was offering me a viable solution, and I was willing and ready to take his life…. I was really fuckin’ messed up, sweetness….

“But Hecate and Voulos talked me down, kept me… sort of calm until the food was brought up. And then Voulos told me the words I needed to hear, exactly what I had not been able to bear thinking of my own damned self.

“He said, ‘If you want to prove you’re not like him, you’ll eat the meat and maintain your sanity.’”

Hades met Persephone’s eyes; he pulled his hand from hers to swipe the tear from her cheek with his thumb.

“I ate, and I started to get better. Voulos was right; I’d been refusing to eat anything for fear that I’d, somehow, become like my father, devouring everything like a ravening wolf. That’s always been my greatest fear, that I _am_ too much like him. This one thing, though, this one way: at least in this, I have self-control, and it’s a daily reminder that I’m not him. It’s a way of taking back control from him eating me….”

His skin prickled at those dark and terrible memories, but he was able to push past the fear this time, and all from her eyes on his forging a bridge from his past to his future, and she there to hold his hand and walk over the chasms of their traumas beside him.

“So, that’s why I eat meat, goddess. Yes, at heart, I am more of a vegetarian; but I need to eat meat, for my own sanity….”

He smirked, and it might have fallen a little flat, but that was fine.

“I understand, Hades…. It’s what works for you, even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else…. It’s like what _we_ have going on….”

“Yep…. Speaking of which – ”

“Later, Hades! We still have a cover story to maintain!”

“Oh, right!”

They giggled, and she shifted on the couch to hug him. He returned the embrace, breathing in the scent of his body wash on her skin from her shower that morning; but with all the emotions still swirling through him, he was thankful once more that his arousal stayed only at a low simmer.

“Okay. Thank you for sharing that with me, Hades…. I want you to know I never judged you for eating meat….” She pulled away from him, settling back to the couch and tapping her finger on her chin in thought. “I do think I might like to make my own decision on this, rather than simply keep to my mother’s command just because it’s what I’ve always done. I may not even like meat, but at least it will be my own choice. What kind of pizza do you want to order? What’s a good starter meat for a twenty-year old plant-loving goddess?”

He chuckled, tapping on his phone to bring up his favorite restaurant’s menu. “I think chicken is the best starter-meat, Persephone. It’s light, takes flavors well, has a pleasant texture, and this restaurant has a barbecue chicken pizza that is absolutely divine. We can get it with olives and peppers, some onions, and I guarantee that’s the best first meat-bearing pizza you could try. Sound good?”

“Uh, yeah, my mouth is watering, order it!”

He placed the order, smiling at her as he thumbed the lock button on his phone. “Done!” She beamed back at him, smug and proud of herself.

Both of their smiles faded instantly at the klaxon warning tone that blared out from his phone; her own phone was mere seconds behind, and she jumped as it vibrated in her pocket against her hip.

He swiped the notification, and a strange mixture of excitement and anxiety surged through his body as he read the alert. “Um, sweetness, do me a huge favor, and don’t panic. Don’t move, and trust me when I say we’re going to be okay.”

“Um, come again now?!”

His barely-begun reply was drowned out as she shrieked in the sudden darkness that filled her office.

* * *

“Um, Hades?!”

“I’m right here, sweetness. Just breathe; I promise we’re okay.”

“Uh, are you sure?! I mean, you were just telling me a fucking scary story!!!”

“Persephone, this isn’t him. It’s just… a visit from some really old and kinda dramatic friends.”

“…. What?!?”

The utter blackness finally began to recede; Persephone was shocked to see currents flowing along the jet-dark _stuff_.

_I didn’t know darkness was a substance that **could** flow…._

“Persephone?” She jumped a little, and Hades fitted a hand over her shoulder, grounding her as her vision returned. She stared at his face, a slow-simmering arousal blooming in her stomach as the tendrils of this somehow-physical darkness wafted between them like mist over an autumn river. “Easy; they probably felt you accept your crown earlier and wanted to meet you. Just remember that these two at least are rather …. They’re eccentric, but they’re the safest Titan-type beings you’ll ever meet.”

“…. Titans…?” She was whispering, tingles of anticipation and fear forcing her voice down to a hush. There was a power in these dark mists; the Queen she was in her soul focused harder, ready for a clash, or flight, or….

“Yep. And more…. Look there….”

Hades jerked his chin toward the wall opposite where they sat on her office couch, and she turned to see a figure materializing against the heather-grey paneling. Tall, taller even than Hades by at least a half-foot, the being’s back was to them. The figure was lean, whip-thin and catlike in the lines of their body.

But the most striking feature were the enormous wings, wide-flung and feather-spread, the wings that dripped with more of the shadowy mists and foggy darkness.

The figure continued to resolve into a more solid shape, slowly, as if the darkness absorbing into its body was fueling its manifestation. Persephone felt her Queen-self recoiling slightly, sensing that this being’s power far outstripped her own, and she’d be better off laying low, hiding from a potential predator rather than standing tall in territorial defiance.

_My gods, who is this dark…._

_Ohhhhhh!_

“Hades, is that…?” She was still whispering, instinct keeping her movements and sounds to a bare minimum. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being hunted, a rabbit under the eye of a hawk.

“Yep. But I don’t know where Nyx is, she’s usually not far behind….” Hades didn’t seem too concerned about the volume of his voice, and Persephone turned to look at his face, wondering if he was just that confident that they were in no danger. Couldn’t he feel the power this Primordial Being carried in his very flesh?!

A pale hand, mortal-toned cream and moonlight, rose in a loose fist, drifting forward toward the wall at his shoulder’s height. A quiet mumble thrummed from the being’s position across the room, and Hades chuckled, nearly snorted, as Erebus knocked on the wall.

Persephone smacked his shoulder, panic nearly forcing her to more drastic measures, as Hades called out to the Lord of Darkness. “You’re facing the wall, Erebus! Turn around….”

Those mist-shedding wings snapped out and then folded tight to the Being’s back before he began to turn around. Persephone froze, stealing herself for the full reveal of this Being’s image, but she and Hades both jumped when another Being shot out from _nothing_ and crashed into the hesitant Shadow-King, both Primordial deities stumbling across the room before they found their footing.

The new arrival straightened with a huff, shoving the first away with a growl. Violet-and-dusk wings half-rose as rounded midnight-blue shoulders hunched, and long locks of starlight-speckled evening-blue hair lifted slightly when hot-pink tipped fingers clenched into fists.

“You. Said. We. Weren’t. Racing!”

“…. Ooops.”

Both Beings turned to the couch at the same time, and Persephone’s hands flew to cover her mouth, stifling the shriek that threatened to claw its way out of her throat.

_I’ve never seen creatures like that!_

Nyx’s face was striking, white-glinting fangs shining beneath five – _five?!_ – red-gleaming eyes. Erebus’ five eyes were palest blue in and on his moon-white skin, but a haze of shadow seemed to shield his eyes and the skin around them, masking his face much like Ares’ anger-red….

Hades wrapped an arm behind her shoulders, pulling her close to him as he greeted the two Primordial deities with the grace and gravitas due the situation.

Persephone barely heard him as her heart pounded in her chest.

_Okay…._

_Breathe…._

_They’re not monsters, they’re not…._

_But holy shit, that’s freaky!_

* * *

**_She’s so little…._ **

_But sooooooo cuuuuuute! Lookit her little hands!_

**_Don’t stare; she looks scared._ **

_You don’t stare! I’ll look all I like!_

**_Love, please; she’s frightened…._ **

_She can suck it up! She’s Queen, she can handle it!_

“Welcome, Nyx, Erebus. Come, sit down….”

“Delighted, Aidoneus!”

Nyx rushed to crash crosswise into an armchair near the sofa where the aqua-colored godling was trying to help his floral-bright Queen regain her composure. The poor little one’s fears were apparent in her eyes, but like she had always done, his Nyx preferred the brash approach to little ones’ fears.

He couldn’t tell her what to do; but maybe he could distract the little flower from her fear with humor….

It had always worked for their little ones….

So he followed his Nyx to the chair, crossed his arms, and collapsed onto her lap. All three of the rest of this little impromptu gathering laughed, and he felt the Queen of the Underworld’s fears dissipate as she realized their strange appearances were not the whole of who they were.

_She’ll do…. Oh, yes…._

_She’ll do for he who should have been ours, too…._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly cannot believe it took me this. fukken. long. to write an Erebus with wings and five-eyes like his Nyx. 
> 
> I'm ashamed. This is some world-build and character-build fail. Swoonie is sorry. Swoonie shall rectify.
> 
> Not quite a cliffhanger, but I felt it best to break this chapter up due to the transitioning themes - from Hades and Persephone growing closer, to now more politics and dealing with ancient beings as a newly-claimed monarch. 
> 
> Basically, this would have been too long and too everywhere-and-elsewhere to have it as a single chapter.
> 
> Next installment will be more plot and world-build heavy. 
> 
> After that, I do believe it's time for another Curiosity of the bedroom variant. 
> 
> (Also, smol plug here. I'll be dropping a new fic tonight - 4-25-2020 - as soon after 8pm central time as I can get it up. I have waited 3 weeks for tonight's episode to come off fast-pass, and I am STOKED to bring that fic to y'all! So, if you get multiple notifications if you're subscribed to my stuff, that's why. New fic. Something.... delishous and feels-full as always. And if you fast-pass, you may have an idea of where I'm going with it already.... It's my ship, and I'll raise that flag high ever and on....)
> 
> Sorry, that was a tangent. 
> 
> Would love to hear what y'all think about this particular Erebus! And here's crossing fingers that Rachel brings him into canon SOOOOOOON!!!!


	11. Discoursing with (My, Your, The) Darkness: One More Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Within:
> 
> Power Dynamics Between Primordial Beings and Younger Godlings  
> Territoriality and Defensiveness  
> Unexpected "arousal" that isn't quite arousal  
> Anxiety and Hints of Senility

Nyx wriggled underneath Erebus, and he half-rose from his seat on her middle to let her adjust in the armchair. It wasn’t nearly a large enough space for the both of them to entirely relax, but the closeness was well-worth the squishing. Nyx straightened in the chair, her wings flattened behind her back and hanging loosely over the arms of the thing where they joined the backboard; she crossed her legs, tucking her feet beneath her thighs, and Erebus sat back down, spinning to toss his feet over the arm of the chair closest to the autumn-sky godling and the floral-bright goddess.

The young woman giggled behind her hand at his and Nyx’s antics, but that was good, much better than her fear of their strange shapes.

One of Nyx’s fingers poked him in the back of his ribs, and he arched away from the sharpness of her nail. “Hey! What’s that for?!”

“Your bony ass is right on my thigh, scootch!”

He grumbled as he shifted again, his _bony ass_ sliding further into the hollow of her lap, and then he sighed, the pleasure of being so close to her and cradled by his heart-song overwhelming the mild irritation. He leaned his head onto her shoulder, peering at the godling and Queen from behind starry-spattered strands of his consort’s hair.

**_My love, after we’re done here, can we go to the lake?_ **

_The one in the mountains?_

**_Mmmmhmmmmm, so lovely with the mists…._ **

_Sure…._ “So _tiny_ , Aidoneus; however did you find such a wondrous small little goddess to stand beside you?!”

The little goddess in question _hrmph_ ’d, crossing her arms playfully and glaring at Nyx, but there was a twinkle in those larger-than-wonder eyes.

**_She’s comfortable in her own skin, this one is…._ **

_She’ll do fine here; after all, strength of self is not bound in flesh._

**_Certainly it is not, my love…._** “Pay no mind to my Nyx, little one; one of her favorite pasttimes is stirring the… can?” The other three laughed, but he felt his love’s concern. She knew he wasn’t only making a joke, and the offer was there in her mind. **_No, we don’t need to leave, I’m okay…._**

“Stirring the pot, you old kook….” The King of the Underworld chuckled, and Erebus smiled his thanks for the clarification. He tucked his face further into Nyx’s neck as the conversation began to flow and swirl like her marvelous starry spans above the Realms Above, and his mind drifted with them for a time, carried on the winds of emotions and memories too numerous and ages-deep to tally….

* * *

Persephone relaxed as Nyx and Hades began chatting, names of people and places flowing between them in an obviously familiar harmony; her attention was only half-focused on her King and the Queen of Night, though.

_There’s something about Erebus; he seems even more different than Nyx is from us…._

It had rather shocked her to see how tender and ….

_Soft…. He’s soft, like Hades when…._

_Ohhhhh…._

She shifted her attention to the Beings' overall appearance while Hades and Nyx continued talking about other Beings she knew only by name: Helios, Asteria, Eos, and others. Nyx wore a burgundy dress, the skirts slit to allow her to sit cross-legged as she was; the ruffled shoulder-straps were low on her upper-arms, forcing the neckline of the bodice to ride low as well. Thankfully, it wasn't a total wardrobe malfunction, but there was definitely some cleavage making an appearance....

Erebus' milky skin was covered from neck to wrists to ankles in what seemed a single-piece jumpsuit of shadow, not quite skin-tight but definitely not loose on his lean frame. Persephone couldn't quite determine if it was actual clothing or somehow brought to being by the Lord of Darkness' power. His hair was as white as his skin, each strand somehow glinting with a shadowy contrast: the entire effect of the layers of locks was something like the corona of light surrounding the sun during an eclipse, but infinitely repeated.

Nyx petted over that strangely patterned head of hair, her midnight-velvet skin a stunning contrast to the nova-captured beauty of her consort's locks; Erebus sighed, the sound nearly inaudible over Hades' rumbling reply of "Prometheus knows better than that...."

_Okay, so, she’s obviously rather dominant, too, and they’ve been together a lot longer, and they’re obviously more comfortable just being who they are in public and otherwise, but…._

_No, there’s still something else; this isn’t just a submissive man demonstrating his devotion…._

Those five icy-blue eyes opened once more, immediately focusing on her.

_Fuck! I was staring…._

Erebus spoke, interrupting the friendly banter that had been swirling non-stop between Hades and Nyx for the past few minutes. “What’s on your mind, little flower…?” His voice was quiet, a thrumming purr of velvet darkness, and Persephone stifled a shiver as the sound stoked something like arousal in her chest.

_…. Okay, but, I’m not attracted to him, so, what’s the deal with that?!_

_Answer him, say something?!!_

“I’m curious about why you and Nyx have so many eyes.”

Nyx smiled, her shoulders tilting forward and all five of her eyes tightening at the corners, her pointed teeth shining wetly. “Why shouldn’t we, Queen of the Underworld…?”

Persephone gulped, and Hades put a hand on her knee. “She’s just being dramatic, sweetness, don’t worry.”

Nyx threw back her head, cackling, and Erebus ruffled his wings slightly, shrugging his shoulders to settle the mist-dripping black feathers more loosely behind the arm of the chair. Erebus’ voice was still as quiet and soft as before, but there may have been a little more life in it this time, a touch more effort to be helpful and informative. “It’s just how we’re made, little one. How we’ve always been. Gaia and Oranus, too, though their wings are rather less impressive, if I do say so myself.”

“Ah.” _What else can I say…?!_

Erebus had apparently settled himself squarely into informative-elder mode and continued to explain. “The two middle ones are no different than your own or any other Being’s. They’re for normal vision. This one….” One of his hands drifted up, two fingertips touching his skin lightly beneath his lower left (Persephone’s right-side) eye; she noticed for the first time that his nails were tinted a dark river-silt grey. “This one actually interprets temperature; I believe the term is, um, infrared…?” When Nyx nodded vehemently beside him, he pressed on, moving his hand to the other cheek. “This one sees, um, power, the flow of energy in and around a Being: essentially, their strength as a god or goddess and where that strength comes from. And this one….” He pointed with one finger at his uppermost eye, squinting with all five for effect, and Persephone giggled. “Well, the best way to describe what this one sees is intent, or soul-feeling. And basically, we see it all, feel it all, and make the best interpretations from all of that as we can….”

“It is a lot, sometimes; it’s why we don’t really hang around in crowds.” Nyx’s voice was rather crackly, a vibrant tone of energy and excitement, and Persephone found herself wondering if that, too, was only for dramatic effect. “It’s easier in small groups like this, but still, we can’t stay long. Just wanted to meet the Queen of the Underworld and visit with the boy for a bit!”

“Don’t call me that….”

“Oh, hush, you’re not nearly grown yet, boy!”

“Seriously, Nyx?! I’m more than two-thousand years old!”

“And we’re pushing ten, so there! Nyeeeeehhhh!!!”

Persephone laughed as loudly as Hades when Nyx stuck her tongue out and crinkled her nose. Erebus rolled his eyes a little as he leaned back to tuck his head on Nyx’s shoulder as the kerfuffle died down again, and Persephone wondered why the Lord of Darkness’ exasperated gesture looked so familiar.

_I’d swear I’d seen him before…._

Hades and Nyx both sighed in tandem, relaxing into the couch and chair at the same rate, and Persephone met Hades’ eyes with a grin. He smiled shyly, shrugging his shoulders. “I guess you could say Nyx is like my aunt; she’s helped me out a lot over the years, including recently. I never did thank you for that day, Nyx….”

“Well, no, but you thanked me for not abducting you as a boy-boy, so, you know, we’re good!”

“…. What…?” Persephone stared back and forth between Nyx and Hades, and Hades wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her against his side.

“I’ll tell you later, sweetness.”

Erebus gasped a little, and Persephone and Hades both realized what he’d let slip as the two Primordial Beings sighed out ecstatic little _awwwww_ ’s at the endearment.

“Um, you’ll keep this to yourselves, won’t you?” Persephone stared the Beings down, striving to pour the Queen-feeling she’d held in the press conference earlier into her gaze.

“Oh, certainly; who would we tell anyway, we never see anybody!” Nyx beamed toothily, but her middle left eye twitched slightly.

Persephone felt a warmth and pressure sliding down her spine; at the middle of her shoulder-blades, it seemed to explode into a starburst of irritation, and she _knew_ that Nyx had lied.

Erebus straightened in Nyx’s lap, his wings tensing, a rustling sound marking the suddenness of the movement where until now his wings had been unearthly silent. “What was that, little flower…?”

Persephone froze, the tense-hunted feeling returning in force as Erebus’ eyes roamed over and around her. Hades pulled her closer to him, and she let him tuck her closer to his side: he needed to protect, and she needed the support.

She had no idea what was going on, and she didn’t think Hades did either….

* * *

**_Okay, that was different; I’ve never seen anything like that…!_ **

_You’re scaring the little flower now, my Darkness, easy…._

**_But we have to figure that out; that’s new, something new, what is she!?_** “You felt something, when my Nyx answered you; what was it?”

The little magenta goddess swallowed, and her voice was defiant even though her pose was somewhat nervous and strained. “Nyx lied, when she said you never see anybody….”

“But how did you know?!!”

“Erebus, back off….” Hades leaned forward, shielding Persephone slightly behind his torso, and Erebus stood, spinning away from the couch and moving to the window wall.

_My love, just breathe…._

**_I didn’t mean to scare them…._ **

_I know; we’ll get past this. Just take some time…._

He stared out over the dark-starry-metal-and-stone fixtures of this too-strange-young-new landscape. He heard Nyx speaking softly to the protective King and the intimidated Queenling, and he wrapped his wings around his body, hiding the worry behind his darksome feathers.

**_I didn’t mean to scare them…._ **

* * *

“I apologize, Persephone; my Erebus didn’t mean to startle you. We both saw something, a kind of power-trail we’ve never seen before, and he got a little worked up.”

Persephone leaned around Hades’ shoulder, nodding her thanks to the Primordial Being; her eyes were caught by Erebus huddled against the window wall, his wings folding tightly around his body.

_Oh, gods, that’s just like Hades this past weekend…._

She felt Hades struggling to relax beside her again; she patted his knee softly, and he met her eyes with a quiet smile.

“We’ll be okay, Nyx; um, it’s not the first time, but it’s still new to me, too. I think it’s part of my power as Queen, maybe? It’s like I have this, um, feeling of pressure and warmth that runs down my spine, and when someone’s telling the truth, it just goes away; but just then, when you fibbed, it exploded and I was a little irritated, but I knew you’d fibbed….”

“Ah! Well, that’s handy!”

“…. That’s not at all the reaction I expected you to have, honestly….”

“Well, you’re right! The Queen of the Underworld, a deity of Justice in her own right, should have some kind of power over the truth! Yours maybe is just knowing what is truth and what is not, but how wonderful that would be, to _know_ always who you can trust!”

Hades tapped his fingers on her shoulder where his arm was still wrapped around her; she turned her attention to him, and he stroked her arm while he spoke. “That is actually rather fitting, Persephone. My power as Judge here is rather more targeted to the verdicts and resulting sentences of judgements. When I sit in judgment on a soul, I basically run through dozens of different options for the sentence once I’ve heard the case, and I know I’ve found the right one when this little, um, bell-type of sound goes off in my head. I never sentence a soul without hearing the bell….”

She nodded, but it still seemed like a lot to process. “Well, like I said, it’s brand new to me, still. I’d appreciate if we just left it at that….”

“Certainly, little one.” Nyx craned her head around, peering at Erebus by the windows. A few seconds later, Erebus nodded, and Nyx turned back around, settling herself as the Lord of Darkness unwrapped himself and made his way back to the chair and his consort.

 _Well, I’ll be damned…._ “…. You two can…?”

She knew Hades was realizing the same thing about the two ancient Beings visiting with them.

“Hmmmm?” Nyx cocked her head, her hands soothing Erebus as he settled back to her lap with gentle caresses.

“Um. You didn’t speak to him. But you talked to him…?”

“Oh! Yeah. In our heads…. It’s weird, I know, but – ”

“Not all that weird, Nyx….” Hades’ voice was a little gruff; Persephone wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or deep feeling. “Persephone and I have been discovering we have something like that, too….”

“Not _like that_ , Hades. Exacty that….”

Erebus looked at her, his eyes dim behind the mask of shadows, but he smiled.

“Good, little flower…. You’ll never be alone….”

Persephone felt tears in her eyes as Erebus tucked his head against Nyx’s neck again, hiding from their emotionally-fraught gathering….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one had a lot going on....
> 
> Erebus and Nyx are ancient - duh. And Kooky. And Cyoot. 
> 
> But I've decided this time around, Erebus isn't just anxiety boy for no good reason. 
> 
> He's actually dealing with some age-related mental issues. 
> 
> How he mis-called "pot" as "can" early on - misnaming things is one of the earliest symptoms of dementia. Emotional instability is another common factor - hence, how he struggles to regulate when faced with Persephone's brand-new truth-sensing power.
> 
> Ahem. 
> 
> Yep. I've been working toward this particular world-build since the first chapter of Dread. 
> 
> I quote: 
> 
> “I’m getting dressed…. But, um, are you mad?”  
> “No. I assumed you would be comfortable; I should not have. I’m still a little asleep, maybe, but I didn’t mean to scare you. Please, goddess; yesterday was…. The balance of power is yours, and I wish it to remain so for a long while yet. Please make yourself comfortable.”  
> A strange pressure flitted down her spine from the base of her neck, fizzling out as it reached the lower edges of her ribs. The resulting empty feeling was… comforting, in an odd way.   
> “Okay. Thank you, Hades; I didn’t mean to get snippy….”
> 
> This time, the pressure exploded into irritating sparks, because Nyx fibbed. 
> 
> Obviously, there have been other instances where this power *could* have manifested and did not. This is still a newly-budding thing: false-starts and misfires are to be expected. We'll see more of this in the coming weeks. 
> 
> Lastly, the bit where Persephone feels "arousal" for Erebus' voice. This is something more similar to her Queen-self feeling the pure power that Erebus just *exudes* in his very presence; but, again, Persephone is young, and her powers and new-nesses cause some confusions. She's not exactly attracted to Erebus, but when hyper-powered Beings get together, actions and reactions just... happen....
> 
> I chose to extend this scene once more: there are a few more sequences I want to spend some time with before Erebus and Nyx head out, and I didn't want to overload your headspaces with soooooo much worldbuild and plot and connections in one longass chapter. We'll take it in bites....
> 
> Hence, the next chapter:
> 
> Pizza and Primordial Parenting
> 
> Enjoy your Monday, little ones!
> 
> (And thank you in advance for those who will comment; please remember to find me on the Discord if you'd like to engage with me more directly, as I am no longer responding to comments directly here on Ao3. Thanks for the love and support!)


	12. Pizza and Primordial Parenting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Within:
> 
> Continuing themes of Senility and early Dementia  
> A Story of Self-sacrifice for the greater good  
> Sibling Rivalry (of the calm, merely envious variety)
> 
> And some cute-sweet-hot flirting between Hades and Persephone, as well as Erebus and Nyx.
> 
> (And you've never seen the God of Sleep like this before.... Just sayin'.)

The silence stretched until Persephone cleared her throat softly. “Well, you’ve met the Queen of the Underworld, then…. Is there anything else we can do for you today, Nyx, Erebus?”

Erebus chuckled, the sound muffled behind Nyx’s hair. The Primordial Being of the Night smiled, giving her consort a comforting squeeze around his torso before her gleaming crimson eyes met Persephone’s. “It’s hardly ever that we get to visit with the boy and our little ones. Might we prevail upon the King and Queen to request our children’s presence for a while?”

Persephone’s mouth dropped open, and Hades chuckled at her shock before he answered Nyx. “I think something could be arranged. Persephone and I were going to have lunch soon; the two of you would be welcome to join us, and we could certainly shoot a quick invitation to your kids on our way out. But you know the rules….”

“Yes, yes, we know; but your Queen doesn’t, I can see that. Shall we meet you and the little ones at the lunch place?”

“It’s the pizza joint, same as last time, Nyx; we’ll see you there.”

Erebus sat up suddenly, his wings stiff and trembling as he leaned forward from Nyx’s lap, nearly falling to his feet as he tilted precariously. “The same one…? With the freezing yogurt?!?”

“ _Frozen_ , yes; you’re lucky we’d already decided on pizza before you showed up.”

“Lucky as hell, indeed! Come on, Nyx!”

The Lord of Darkness darted off his consort’s lap, running full-tilt for the window wall. Persephone gasped, but Nyx only stalked after Erebus with hunched shoulders and pinned-high wings.

“We. Are. Not. Racing!”

Hades and Persephone laughed together as Erebus dissolved into a vanishing cloud of dark mists before crashing into the windows; Nyx scoffed heavily as a rift opened in reality and swallowed her entirely.

Persephone stared at Hades for a moment before her lover shrugged. “What? I told you they were eccentric…!”

“ _Freezing. Yogurt…?_ ”

Hades cackled, and Persephone thought there was a hint of Nyx’s laughter in the sound….

* * *

Hades held down the button on the side of the driver’s seat, standing in the space framed by the open door. Persephone was already buckled in in the passenger seat, trying not to laugh as the leather chair slid slowly, groaningly, back.

“Well, at least I didn’t try to just slide in this time, eh, sweetness?”

She lost every ounce of control at that, hooting and kicking her feet beneath the glove compartment, her hands flapping in front of her face as if she could force air into her lungs while she wheezed and howled. The seat finally thumped to a stop, and Hades tugged on his shirt and coat to settle them flat along his back before sliding onto the leather.

He shook his head as Persephone gasped for breath, swiping tears from her eyes; the Aston purred as he maneuvered it from the space and headed for the garage’s exit. A few minutes later, she’d settled down again enough to continue the conversation they’d had the entire way down into the parking garage from her office.

“So, you’re seriously not going to tell me who their kids are?!”

“Nope. I would really like to see the shock on your face, goddess. It’s been too long since anyone was new enough down here to be surprised; I’m excited.”

“Scoundrel percentage climbing, there, _Aidoneus-boy_ ….”

He smirked, giving her a scoundrel’s leer from the corner of his eye. “Fitting, isn’t it, for the minx who left my seat smashed up against the steering column…. Oh, wait, sorry, I forgot…!”

_Stupid, stupid man, she said she didn’t like that one!_

“Waitaminnit!” He didn’t dare breathe. “…. Are you telling me _minx_ is your version of _scoundrel_ for me…?”

“…. Yes?”

She actually bounced in the seat, and Hades counted himself terribly lucky that they were stopped for a moment at a red light so he could admire the way her chest moved beneath the black fabric of her conservatively-cut dress. “Why didn’t you say so?!!? What’s my minx percentage, then?!”

His heart gave a happy wriggle as he started the car through the intersection. “Baseline, thirty percent, I think, after putting up with my kooky aunt and uncle-ish dorks earlier. And again here in a few….”

“Well, I’ll have to see what I can do, then….”

Her hand landed on his knee, and if the car swerved a little on the road, well, that plastic bag had looked like a cat….

“Sure, goddess, whatever you can do….”

“…. Well, what’s this about _rules_ , then? And, um, the alarm earlier: have you already set up my phone in the royal alerts system, or something?”

“Oh, no, the alerts are keyed to any and every phone in the vicinity based on signal pings; that wasn’t special treatment, that’s just an everyone-and-anyone thing. We had a few, um, incidents early on, so as soon as the tech caught up, we implemented that. Everyone knows when Nyx and Erebus are incoming, since they literally can’t keep from blacking things out when they don’t give us warning. Like I said, they’re dramatic. But the rules are basically just that they need to be on their best behavior in public, like at the pizza place. No poofing in and out, emotions as in check as possible, doing their best not to scare the locals…. Honestly, they’ve always been pretty good about doing all that, it’s just easier to have the chain of command kinda thing.”

“Uh huh, okay, but you don’t, like, um, _actually_ command them, do you?”

“Oh, hells no. Aside from the fact that they are effectively some of the oldest Beings in literal existence, they’ve lived in the Underworld for far longer than I’ve ruled. And it’s important to remember, sweetness: our role as monarchs here is, well, it’s not ruling the realm so much as a _place_ , but ruling what it stands for and the people who are under our jurisdiction: living, dead, in-between. If any Being could be said to rule this realm as a place, it would actually be Erebus. The shadows and darkness of this under-earth space are his, and his alone….”

“So, when you say the Underworld is claiming me…?”

“I mean it’s claiming you the same way it claimed me: the power of this place, the purpose of it, needs you, needs me, and we fill that role. A focal point of power, I suppose we could say. Like I said, it’s not like the other realms. We rule almost the _idea_ of the Underworld, and Erebus holds the actual physical plane…. It’s his power that fuels the borders, too….”

He felt her staring at him as he took the next turn onto the street with their destination. He slowed the Aston, giving them time to finish this conversation before they arrived. “Was that his idea or yours…?”

“His…. He, um…. He and Nyx didn’t fight in the Titanomachy. Erebus can’t actually leave for the realms above like Nyx can. His eyes: he’d be blind up there. He’ll probably have his mask a little more dense while he’s here at the restaurant, too, just so you’re aware. They couldn’t help us, but when we finally won, and trapped Kronos in the earth so I could get down here and start forging his cell and all…. Kronos would have gotten free again if not for Erebus; he’d have been loose before we even so much as went our separate ways up there the next day. Erebus bound his own nephew, held him trapped, even at the expense of much of his own power. By the time I got things taken care of to keep Kronos bound, Erebus was…. It took him a long while to recover, and I don’t know if he’s ever been the same. He’s seemed a little off in recent years, even more than his usual, and I worry something’s still affecting him from that whole thing….”

He parked the car along the curb, turning the key and sitting back in the seat, not sure yet if his little goddess’ questions were all answered.

“…. You love him….”

He turned to her, shifting in the seat, and so what if his shirt wrinkled as he twisted?

“Yeah. Like the father I should have had….”

Her hand molded over the angle of his cheekbone, soft against his hardness, and he leaned into the pressure, feeling the pain drain away and comfort cradling his heart.

“So, you’ve got some almost-brothers and sisters, but you still won’t tell me who they are…?”

He laughed, clambering out of the car and heading around the hood to open her door….

* * *

_If you fill up on this stuff now, you won’t be able to enjoy any of the other stuff when the little ones get here…!_

**_Woman, I love you, but this is freezing yogurt, and you need to back off…._ **

_…. I love you, too, ya old geezer…._

The bell on the door into this tiny corner-of-a-building space jangled, and Aidoneus and Persephone entered. Nyx immediately waved from the Omega-shaped booth she and he had claimed when they arrived, and Erebus nodded in greeting. The little flower smiled brightly, and the young King shyly, and Erebus wondered what they’d been talking about on their way over that had made his almost-little-one’s eyes shine like that….

**_Not that I can see much; I swear, they make these lights brighter every time we leave…!_ **

_No, you’re just old and decrepit…._

**_…. That’s just mean._ **

_I love you, but you are! You’re old, you’re falling apart…. Woe is me, I fell in love with an old, old, old fogey!_

**_…. It’s a good thing you’re cute, my heart…._ **

She giggled before helping herself to a finger-dip of his vanilla freezing yogurt, and he stole it back with a soft kiss.

_If you don’t stop that, the boy and the Queenling will get grossed out and leave!_

**_Then get your own yogurt._ **

They pulled apart, Nyx settling back to her haunches on the slick-sticky vinyl of the booth-bench, and a few moments later Aidoneus and Persephone sat down across from them. Persephone had a small dish of freezing yogurt, plum-ish colored and topped with blackberries. Erebus raised his spoon in salute, and she chuckled as she returned the gesture.

The King of Souls smiled at his Queen before speaking to Erebus and Nyx directly. “The girls couldn’t get away, but your sons will join us soon. I took the liberty of reminding the girls that they have near decades of paid leave built up, and if they don’t use some of it soon, I’ll be giving you two the access codes to their office so you can visit them.”

Nyx bared her teeth in a grin, and Erebus hummed agreement as she snarled her thanks before she spoke. “Those girls of ours: I don’t know where they get such a work ethic! Stars know _we_ didn’t have anything to do with that!”

Persephone seemed confused, and Erebus cocked his head, holding his spoon in his mouth as he asked the question with his shadow-shielded eyes. She shrugged her shoulders up and down once. “Hades wouldn’t tell me, but I’m curious who your girls are….”

Nyx scoffed, _tsk_ ing at Aidoneus as Erebus chuckled. “The Fates, little flower. Our Moirai. They do so love their ribbons….”

“…. Do you mean _tapes_ , Erebus…?”

 ** _Oh, hell._** “Yes, that, thank you, Aidoneus….”

_Easy, love._

**_Trying…._ **

“You’re welcome, Erebus.”

An uncomfortable silence descended over their little gathering; Nyx wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and Erebus continued taking bites of his slowly-melting yogurt.

_It’s okay, love. You’ll be okay…._

**_…. Just don’t let me forget anything important…._ **

_Never, my heart…._

* * *

Thanatos flared his wings, cupping the air and slowing his descent; the coolness bled between his feathers as he backwinged, singing along his nerves and firing thunder through his veins from his pounding heart.

_Nothing like flying, nothing at all; not even sex, honestly…._

He landed on the corner, spotting his boss’ sleek jet ride parked down the way.

_Hurry up, bro; I am **not** showing up to lunch with the boss and the new boss and our parents alone!_

A faint thrum of humor whistled through his mind, misty as it always was but strong enough that he knew his brother wasn’t far.

_Slowpoke._

The mind-mimicked laughter in his head swelled as he finally spotted his brother diving through the murky dimness, pell-mell hell-bent-for-leather _zooming_ from on high to land on a rain-slicked sliding stop a few feet from Thanatos.

“You are _such_ a show-off, you goon.”

“You’re a damned stick in the mud, bro!”

Hypnos rushed him, grabbing him around the middle and bending backwards so Than’s feet left the ground momentarily. By the time his brother slammed him back to the concrete, his ribs were twinging, but he smiled through it all anyway.

“Been too long, ya nutjob.”

“Well, the mortals, they’re always sleeping somewhere up there! I tell ya what, though: it feels damned good to be back in my own skin!”

The two winged gods began walking down the damp street; Thanatos looked his brother up and down, nodding as Hypnos rambled on about his most recent attempts at adjusting his sleep-touch for delayed reactions. Hypnos’ wings were a red-shot black, mottled and glistening in the dull streetlights. His brother’s physical form was as pale as his own, but where Thanatos had kept his body much the same throughout the years, Hypnos had spent ages accumulating various tattoos and designs on his skin: primitive swirls and mazes, portraits and stylized animals, even landscapes in every color possible covered his hands, arms, and his neck where the open collar of his black polo revealed his collection. Thanatos knew from experience that the rest of his brother’s body was much the same, even if it was concealed beneath black cotton and denim.

Hypnos’ face, though, seemed a little different this time. Where the God of Sleep had, up until now, left his face mostly unmarked above his jaw, there were a few small starbursts dancing over his right cheekbone today, iridescent ink shimmering beneath the skin with the god’s every movement. The effect was stunning, drawing attention both to and away from Hypnos’ eyes.

Than had to fight down the jealousy as always when he looked at his brother’s eyes….

His own were their father’s, and for that he was proud, but his brother had eyes that were beyond wondrous: blue and green and hazel and brown and black and grey and even violet, all jumbled together so his eyes never seemed the same twice.

Those eyes captivated anyone who took the time to look away from Hypnos’ kaleidoscopic museum of ink-marked skin, and those eyes had seen more than their share of bedmates come and go through the years….

_How is it that the Lord of Sleep is such a damned adrenaline junky?!_

“So, you ready to meet the new Queen of the Underworld, Hyp?”

“Damn straight, bro! I hear she’s a right badass!”

“…. Yeah, I’ll give ya that….”

_…. And I never even apologized for the train that day…._

_Oops…._

* * *

The conversation still hadn’t really picked back up after Erebus seemed to get embarrassed at his misspeak about the Fates’ tapes; Persephone picked her way through her yogurt, wondering if there was anything she could do to help salvage the happiness she knew Hades and the Primordial Beings had been feeling before.

She jumped when Nyx gave a sudden sharp squeak, and Erebus’ head snapped up from where he’d been relaxing against Nyx’s shoulder. Both of the Beings’ gazes were locked above Persephone’s head, and she spun in her seat to peer through the window as Hades chuckled beside her.

Thanatos and a heavily-tattooed god were both smiling and waving as they kept walking toward the door into the restaurant, and Persephone gasped, whipping her head back around to stare at Erebus’ beaming face.

_That’s where I knew his face from when he rolled his eyes earlier! Thanatos is one of their sons!_

Erebus and Nyx were nearly vibrating as their sons entered the restaurant; they held it together only long enough for Hades to give a formal nod of approval, and then they were rushing out of the booth and snatching the two gods up in strangling hugs of needful affection. Persephone cocked her eye at him as she took a slightly larger bite of yogurt.

“Well, we are the only customers in here; I figured they could get away with a little spazz.”

She laughed around her spoon, winking at her lover.

_He’s such a good man…._

_My man…._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp.... Looks like one more installment in this afternoon with Ancients.... 
> 
> I'm trying to keep chapters more bite-sized for this, because I'm still working a lot of world-build and bits-and-pieces of hints for things as this goes along. This is not a work that requires longass chapters like my Primordial Lore to get all the plot-lines aligned; I'm challenging myself to structure things a little more shortly-serially. If anyone is having a preference on shorter/longer, you know I'd like to hear about it.
> 
> I've only played with Hypnos once before, in Night's Darkness. There, I had him more... quiet, more somber and melancholy, and that worked for his relationship to Than and Erebus and Nyx in that work.
> 
> Here, it looks like he's turning out to be a contradiction in "work-self" (God of Sleep) and "personal-life" (rough-and-tumble, live-life-to-the-fullest, and fuck-it-all-cause-no-one-gets-out-alive). We'll definitely see more of him in the next chapter - hence, why this is getting extended once more. And yes, the tattoos do have stories and meaning. 
> 
> Once again, Erebus is having some trouble here. I think the Muses will cooperate when I tell them I don't want any big meltdown drama in this pizza joint, but .... we'll just have to wait and see. I'm gonna do my best to whip them in line. No meltdowns, not if I can help it.
> 
> Also, in the previous chapter, there was a mention of Hades receiving help from Nyx "a few weeks ago." dbrae77 commented and said they were looking forward to the backstory. I felt I should clarify - I was only referring to Episode 77 in the comic, where Hades visits with Nyx during his "traumatic break." That wasn't really a world-build moment, just a little call-back to the source material, keeping things canonical to an extent - because that happened a couple of weeks before Perse moves in with Hades in Wick'd Chapter One. I'm sorry for the confusion, dbrae77, and anyone else who may have had that same inquiry.... 
> 
> Though, now I think on it, I may write a deleted scene with an alternate "what happened...." But I make no promises. For now, we're just referring in that line to Episode 77. Sorry, loves.
> 
> Let's see, let's see....
> 
> [[[where's my freezing yogurt, I can't think without my freezing yogurt....]]]
> 
> Oh. Um, yeah, so.... 
> 
> Explanation of what actually happened with Erebus trapping Kronos....
> 
> Okay. Kronos is the Lord of Time's Destructive Power. I may or may not come back to this particular backstory A LONG TIME down the line in Dread, so, I felt I should explain some more here.
> 
> When the final battles of the Titanomachy were done, and Kronos had been bound - temporarily - in the earth by Hades and the others, let's just say he was only stunned. Erebus, as the power of the darkness within the earth itself (which is canonical to the original mythos, by the way, as well as that he is the "boundary" between the Cthonic realm and the realms above - if you ever wish to research, I highly recommend theoi.com) was powerful enough to hold onto the Tyrant and keep him from breaking free.
> 
> But Kronos, of couse, would have fought back. 
> 
> And you can't fight darkness with your fists.
> 
> His power would have clashed, for days, weeks, maybe even months, with Erebus' own power, and that ricochet and reverb of "Time's Passing and the Destruction Time Wreaks" would have begun to affect Erebus....
> 
> To affect his mind....
> 
> To age him....
> 
> Hence, his "dementia." It is, in fact, a direct result of the choice he made to bind Kronos until Hades was ready to take over the warden-ship....
> 
> And, yeah, he won't really ever get better. He won't get terribly worse, but he definitely won't get better....
> 
> Time can affect even the Darkness, it seems....
> 
> Okay. Enough Heavy.
> 
> I think we'll get some awkward family storytime in the pizza parlor next chapter. More Yogurt. Persephone will try barbecue chicken pizza....
> 
> It'll be fun, funny, and a hoot-n-a-half. 
> 
> And then I think it's time for a Curiosity....
> 
> Finally.... 
> 
> We're not sorry for the delay....
> 
> -Swoonie's Muses, Titans, and Yogurt-loving Primordials   
>  (and Swoonie, I'm still here, too!)  
>  [[[hush, little one....]]]


	13. Family History: Brought to You by Sleep, Death, Night, and Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuing themes within of:
> 
> Senility and Dementia in Ancient Beings  
> Body Modifications (Tattoos and Piercings)  
> Familial Dynamics, including sib-to-sib, parent-to-child, and almost-adopted-child-to-sib-and-parent
> 
> And lots of annoying family members being annoying just for the helluvit....
> 
> Also, backstories. Lots and lots of backstories.... Enjoy!

“And-and-and, the first time, see, the first time Than here was gonna try to fly…?”

“Hyp, shut the hell up already…!”

“Nope! See, he decided the best way to do it, ‘cause he was scared of heights, ‘cause he was such a little guy – ”

“I swear, if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna kick your ass right out there on the sidewalk!”

“Fine, fine!”

“Thank you….”

Persephone giggled, had been giggling for the past few minutes while the two winged gods bickered back and forth over who had been the dumbest when they were children. Hades was standing by the register at the counter across the restaurant, getting ready to help bring their order over to the table. Erebus and Nyx were still across the booth from Persephone, while Thanatos and his tattooed brother Hypnos had pulled chairs up to the end of the table, giving all four of the wing-bearing family members plenty of space for their plumage.

Erebus grumbled as he swiped his spoon around his nearly-empty yogurt dish. “I swear, you boys, why do we even bother getting together when all you two ever do is  _ this… _ ? It’s enough to turn my freezing yogurt to cottage-y cheese.”

“Sorry, Dad.” “Apologies, Pops.”

Nyx rolled all five of her brilliant crimson eyes at Persephone, and Persephone knew the Primordial Queen’s smile meant,  _ they’re not sorry at all, and he doesn’t even mind…. _

Hades and the restaurant’s shift manager came over to the table then, two large pizzas and a couple of pans of breadsticks and sauces balanced carefully on their hands. Thanatos half-rose from his chair to help maneuver the pans to the trivets already waiting on the tabletop, and Hypnos gave Persephone a wink around his brother’s shoulder.

Persephone held her expression to keep from blowing Hypnos’ cover.

Nyx started sliding the plates around the table from the stack she’d been guarding while they waited on the pizza as Hades slipped back into the booth next to Persephone. Thanatos sat down again with a sigh as he managed to get the second pan of breadsticks to finally rest level and steady on the holder.

Everyone started selecting food, and a hungry-companionable silence fell over the table.

Until –

“Than started running full-tilt over the grass – ” “ _ Hypnos, you fucking jerk!”  _ “ – flapping like mad, and just when he started to get some lift – ” “ _ Gods, you’re such a jackass!”  _ “ – he smacked  _ right _ into a big-ass oak tree!”

Persephone nearly choked on her tea, Nyx reached around Thanatos to give Hypnos a smack with a wide-open hand on the back of his head, and Erebus leveled a perhaps-not-mock-deadly glare at the hysterically cackling sleep-god.

Hades chuckled into his cola, and Thanatos affected a woebegone expression as he finished slapping a piece of pizza onto the middle of his plate.

* * *

“So, Lady Persephone, how do you like the chicken…?”

“It’s… different, Thanatos, thank you for asking.”

“Well, I honestly wondered how long it would take you to want to give meat a try; most of us Underworld critters are rather carnivorous, after all.” The King scoffed into his glass, and Thanatos cleared his throat. “Oh, and Lady Persephone, I need to apologize for my behavior when you first began working at headquarters. I … should not have been so rude, and I beg you afford me the chance to remedy my reputation in the coming weeks.”

His father cleared his throat, one subtle bass pulse of sound, and Thanatos ducked his head as his father zeroed in on his shame. “I’m sorry, but did my oldest son just admit to being rude to the little flower at their first meeting…?”

“…. Yes, father….”

“Outside, boy.”

Thanatos pushed back his chair and headed for the door. His father was already materializing on the sidewalk, staring into the cloud-blanketed sky. Than approached, his father’s left wing stretching behind him, shielding them both from the windows of the restaurant.

**_Boy, I know I taught you better than that._ **

_ You did…. _

**_Were you tired? Were you occupied with something else? What was going on in your life that you were rude to a goddess?_ **

_ …. I was running late to work. There was no excuse. _

**_…. That nymph you were seeing: have you ended things with her yet?_ **

_ Yes, last week…. _

**_Good. She was not healthy for you, my boy…._ **

_ I know…. _

**_…. I know you did not know the goddess’ power then, but you could have. You have the sight; you could have seen the flower for who she would become, for the vines she bears around her soul. You must make this up to her, in any way she chooses. She is your Queen…._ **

_ I will, I swear it. _

**_Good…. Boy?_ **

_ Hmmm? _

**_…. Um, your, um…._ **

_ …. Dad…? _

**_…. Girls! The girls. Your sisters…. Are they well?_ **

_ Yeah, they are, just as annoying as ever, in fact. _

**_Tell them to come visit soon…. I miss them…._ **

_ You got it, dad…. _

**_Oh, and boy? You should tell the flower and the King that one story about Hypnos trying to swim like the penguins…._ **

_ …. Excellent…. _

* * *

Nyx stroked through Erebus’ hair with her right hand, unsnarling some of the crinklier strands in the underlayers as Thanatos finished embarrassing his brother; Hypnos, for his part, took it all in stride, miming his cheeks as if he was holding his breath and “waddling” in place in his chair to mimic his younger self’s attempts at penguin-hood.

The Queenling and her King both laughed, the god dabbing at his mouth with a napkin and the Queenling near snorting as she struggled for breath.

“Oh, that’s nothing, Queen of the Underworld…. The first time our boys flew away from home because they got mad at my Erebus and I for asking them to eat their cabbage with dinner, they got pinned down in a tree by a rather vicious cave bear mother. She was far too large to climb their perch and punish them for scaring her babies with their bickering and flapping and stomping about in the forest, but she was determined to keep them there.

“Our boys were silly enough that they wouldn’t just fly away for home; no, at home, there was cabbage, and the cave bear was the better option….”

Aidoneus snorted, cola misting out over the bones of the pizzas and the crumbs from the breadsticks. Thanatos and Hypnos both smothered their braying behind their hands rather than laugh openly at their King, but Persephone showed no such apprehension: she howled, and Nyx felt tiny boots kicking against her own legs beneath the table.

It took a few minutes for everything to settle after that, but when it did, her Erebus straightened a little by her side, though he did tuck his left wing around her a little more securely, capturing her wings between his own and her back.

“My turn….”

* * *

**_The boy Aidoneus was lonely there in the realms above; his brothers and those girls couldn’t understand the power waking in him, and he hadn’t yet traced it back beneath the earth._ **

**_He needed a guide…._ **

**_It had been a long time since I’d made anything from my shadows, but I thought this would be as good a time as any. I shaped and molded the darkness, gave it breath and fangs, and eyes like mine that it could see the truth of a soul and know its own purpose in its life…._ **

**_I sent the little one above with my Nyx the next night, and she placed the pup where Aidoneus would be sure to find it._ **

**_A few months later, the pup had grown enough to help Aidoneus in his tasks; and after the battles were ended, the hound led the boy who would become King in this Realm Below to one of the access points I’d left open for him._ **

**_The King bound the Tyrant, and the hound was by his side through it all…._ **

**_His throne came next, and his crown; the hound an ever-present fixture at his side. My oldest boy joined forces with the King, making sure the shades of mortals no longer need remain in the realm where their bodies had fallen into the abyss of time._ **

**_After a while, there were quite a few child-shades in the Underworld, and the hound had taken up with them._ **

**_The King offered the little ones the chance to name the beast._ **

**_They named him Spotted, for his eyes shone like stars in the darkness…._ **

* * *

Hades felt the tears welling up with the memories of his earliest days in the Underworld; he hadn’t forgotten, exactly, he just never really actively remembered those dark and lonely times. But he felt again the deep affection for this ancient Being that had done so much for him for so long a timeless while:

Even to the point of giving him the best friend a lonely god could ever have asked for….

“Thanks, Erebus….”

“Of course, Aidoneus….”

Persephone hugged him tightly around his middle, and he tucked her closer to his heart as his almost-father took a sip of his consort’s lemonade….

* * *

Hypnos flicked the handle back to the off position and scooped up the two shallow dishes of yogurt. He made his way back to the table, his parents, brother, brother’s boss and brother’s boss’ new companion-Queen all sitting quietly. Things were winding down, it was clear, but it was just as obvious that no one was quite ready for this gathering to finish up entirely.

_ Especially my own damn frequently-absent ass…. _

He handed one of the bowls of yogurt to his mother, who held it for his father, who immediately dipped in his spoon and hummed as he tasted the strawberry flavor. Hypnos countered his brother’s glare as he sat back down and snatched up his own spoon. “Hey, you’re the one who has turned his back on the family’s favorite food, Than, so you just sit there and keep your opinions to yourself!”

The King of the Underworld gave an abrupt hum then, a short  _ mmh _ of sound designed to draw attention without coming off as rude. “Hypnos, I’ve always meant to ask you: who’s your body artist? I’ve been meaning to get another piercing or two and wondered whom you’d recommend. It’s been far too long since I’ve been a frequent client anywhere.”

The magenta goddess was obviously shocked, staring at the cobalt King, who peeked at her and winked with a shrug.

“Well, I personally would recommend Velonia, she’s a master; her shop is Inks-n-Kinks, but she’s very discreet. She’s rather young, but I’ve seen her for all my newest jobs. Including these, here.” He pointed to the iridescent starbursts on his cheekbone, tilting his head slightly to showcase the shimmering ink. “However, if you need any repiercings or touch-ups, you can’t go wrong with Chiron, you know. He’s the absolute best, but he’s kinda switched gears recently. Velonia actually studied under him early on, and they won’t say, but I think he may have given her a goodly portion of her startup capital.”

“Yes, I knew Chiron was no longer as visible in the body art sector, but I did not know he had a pupil. Thank you, I will certainly let Velonia know who to thank for the recommendation.”

“Absolutely, bro.”

Hypnos chuckled around his next bite of yogurt.  _ And damn, if he don’t blush like a dork! _

The magenta goddess shook her head at her King’s display before turning her piercing fuchsia and jet eyes on Hypnos; the Queen’s gaze sent a shock blazing down his spine at the power she seemed to  _ exude _ , a power that nearly  _ tasted _ of the Underworld’s deepest essences. 

_ Whoa. Yep, she’s definitely got something going on there…. _

“So, Hypnos, I…. I don’t mean to pry, but do any of your tattoos have stories behind them?”

“Oh, yeah, every one of them.”

“…. Would you share any? I’ve never even seen a god with as many as you, and I’m beyond curious!”

“Well, they’re all rather personal, but you’re almost part of the family, so….”

“Oh, no, please, don’t feel obligated!”

“Easy, pinky, it’s not a big deal. They’re just all the last dreams of mortals my brother has reaped….” Thanatos bumped against him, a slow shoulder nudge of wordless emotion; Hypnos leaned back, flaring his wings slightly to show his solidarity with his older sib as the gathering grew even more silent. “Not every mortal dreams when they fade from life, but those that do, Than can feel that, see it in his own mind. He gets a little overwhelmed sometimes, so a while back, I had him start drawing them out, and then I take the sketches and get some new ink.”

“My power is over a peaceful, quiet, well-timed death; at times, for the mortals, that’s so close to sleeping it’s nearly indistinguishable to their limited experience. I never really forget any of them. These last dreams all leave their mark on my soul. And Hypnos shares that with me in his own way, so I’m not carrying that burden alone.”

“So, even though our work hardly ever crosses paths, in the end….”

“The mortals affect us both as much as we affect them….”

The King and Queen of the Underworld were both rather teary-eyed, so Hypnos turned his attention to his yogurt to give them space.

“And the ink definitely helps me catch some tail, if ya catch my meaning, Persephone dear.”

Raucous laughter took the place of somber contemplation over the mortal lives they all affected by their very existence, and Hypnos raised his eyes to see his father gazing out of the window beside the booth with a somehow blank expression on his face.

_ Damn…. _

_ At least he’s got Mum to help hold him together…. _

His mother’s midnight-hued hand drifted to cup his father’s skull, gentle tugging pulling that head of nova-bright hair back to her bare shoulder. Erebus twirled his spoon through the swirls of pink-and-white yogurt in the dish Nyx held, seeming dissatisfied now.

_ He’ll be okay. He’s gotta be…. _

_ Primordial Beings can’t really go insane, can they…? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. We finally got there. 
> 
> .... Almost 8k words of slightly-self-serving stuff with Erebus and Nyx and the darkling bois.... 
> 
> But we made it! Yay! 
> 
> Yep, lots and lots of world-building going on in this chapter. Setting things up down the line still in a few places, a few Easter Eggs carefully hidden, peeking at you where you least expected them....
> 
> Nope. I'm not giving nothing away.... You'll catch 'em on a re-read in a month or so....
> 
> Oh! Velonia, the tat and piercing artist - her name is taken from the Greek βελόνες (velones), "needles." Fitting, ain't it...?
> 
> And did y'all catch that she studied under Chiron?!! There's reasons there....
> 
> I'd like to thank Rissaleigh49 for her thoughtful and helpful assistance as my beta for this chapter, specifically. I was concerned about the flow and overlap and tone of the whole thing here - it's been about 5 months since I wrote a scene with 6 individual characters all interacting over and around each other in a close-contact situation like this pizza party, and I wanted to make sure it all worked the way I wanted it. I wanted this to kinda *draw* the reader into the spazziness and overall enthusiasm of this lunch party, without being too confusing; Rissa helped me make sure it worked. Danke schoen, my dear, many dankes. 
> 
> Okay. 
> 
> The next chapter will (finally) be another Curiosity in Hades and Persephone's bedroom. I'll provide more insight in its notes, but I wanted to be upfront that I am working closely with someone who has experienced trauma and recovery similar to how I'm constructing Persephone's, and while they are remaining anonymous, this collaborator did want to be sure that the readers knew I wasn't just coming up with some of these things off the top of my head, that there is backing behind some of these events Persephone and Hades will be going through. 
> 
> But the next chapter does include some scenes we've all been waiting for: some actual skin. on. skin....
> 
> That, my dears, will be "Reach for Me. Touch my Soul."
> 
> It will be a few days yet, most likely, before I can get it ready; between work and those collaborative elements, we'll be a little slower....
> 
> But hopefully you'll see some Curiosities on Smanger-day or Smut-day (Saturday/Sunday, see what I did there...?)!
> 
> Until then, ta, little ones! We've enjoyed visiting with you!
> 
> -Swoonie, the darklings, and the Muses


	14. Reach for Me. Touch my Soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while and a half, dears. I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to be nearly 20 days since we last updated. I'd blame Muses, but I do that a lot, so....
> 
> Okay. Warnings: nothing too drastic this time, but something that may be a little out there:
> 
> Confusing mixtures of orgasm and fight-or-flight responses.  
> Emotional vulnerability for the bottom partner when the top is fine.  
> Emotional vulnerability for the top partner when the bottom is fine.  
> Heavier dom and sub dynamics, including commands/instructions and obedience.  
> Anal fingering, oral manipulation on breasts, and vulval/cliteral fingering (not really any penetration) 
> 
> This chapter is mostly tenderotica - which means feels, fluids, and fukken....
> 
> Additionally, a short reminder that I did work closely with an anonymous survivor of a sexual assault situation. My source's input was beyond compare while I worked on this: this chapter would NOT have been possible without their influence and assistance. 
> 
> And lastly but in no sense leastly, my ongoing appreciation is hereby stated unequivocally for rissaleigh49 as my Headspacer twin and beta. 
> 
> Enjoy....

Hades laid the towel over the sheets, smoothing it into place with both hands. The plug, lube, and a rather stiff, “slim-line” dildo all rested on the mattress nearby, and as he climbed onto the bed and took his position on his hands and knees, he sighed.

Gods, he was ready for this….

It had been a long couple of days since the press conference with his Queen and impromptu pizza party with his Primordial great-uncle and aunt. He had been concerned on Thursday morning that Persephone would feel out of place in her new penthouse office near his; he’d been even more worried that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on  _ anything _ with her so close. He’d been pleasantly surprised when none of his fears proved true. 

Persephone had taken to her new office like a swan to a lily-covered pond; their simple back-and-forth messaging had resumed as it had in the week before everything blew up the weekend before. The soft teases and mild flirting were pleasant reminders of their growing closeness rather than a frustration, and Hades had reveled in the sense of  _ settling _ that his King-self seemed to be experiencing now that His Queen was so close and embracing her role with vigor.

After a meeting with Hecate, Persephone had decided to begin the process of developing the new filing system for the chaos that was the Shade Records Archives. She’d spent Thursday afternoon taking notes on the current system’s functionality, documenting the drawbacks and hangups with the same thorough attention that she gave to the benefits. Over dinner that evening, she’d told him that she was confident she could have a report detailing her intentions for the overhaul by the next evening. 

And Friday at three in the afternoon, she’d hand-delivered it to him with her crown perched high upon her meticulously set pompadour pixie-cut, and he’d nearly fainted at the overpowering  _ presence _ she exuded as the Queen of the Underworld when she talked him through her plans. 

He had also approved the orders for furnishings and artworks she had memo’d him a mere hour after their meeting. She might still be leery of personal gifts and special treatment of that nature, but he decided to believe in his inner voice’s insistence that this was her way of letting him  _ give _ her things, even if the items were ostensibly for the  _ office _ ….

They hadn’t done much either Thursday or Friday evening, after dinner, at home. Movies on the couch, desserts and chilled wine, kissing and cuddling before turning in for bed. She had specifically asked that he sleep in nothing but his boxers last night, the first time she’d ever made such a request, and he’d happily complied. 

He’d fallen asleep nearly instantly when she curled up against his chest and tucked her feet beneath his thighs.

She’d been awake before him this morning; he’d panicked a little when he emerged from the bedroom to discover her showered and dressed (albeit in lounge-type clothes, a fleecy pair of navy capris and a loose sky-blue t-shirt). Had he done something wrong, had he forgotten a plan or event?! She had a quiche already in the oven, the dogs fed and outside playing, and a new-to-him album playing over the BlueFang speaker system in his kitchen: some light and sunny band fronted by an airy-sounding female vocalist. 

She’d chuckled at his terrified eyes, darting over and rising into the air to peck a kiss on his lips. “You’re fine, Hades; you’re allowed to sleep in!”

He’d helped her with the dishes, chatting easily with her about this, that, and the other. When the quiche was ready, they’d eaten a late-morning brunch, and Hades wondered how he’d ever survived before his little goddess moved into his house and heart.

And then….

_ “Hades, go into the bedroom for me: towel, plug, lube, but also get another toy for me to use on you. Your choice, something new for me to try, whatever you think would be best. I’ll tend the dogs and meet you in there in ten minutes…. And obviously, I expect you naked and waiting for me….” _

He had obeyed his goddess to the letter, and he thought he would only have a few minutes to wait for her to arrive. His eyes were closed, his elbows were warm on the sheets, and his back was pleasantly stretched as he arched to present his body for his goddess whenever she chose to enter their bedroom….

Two warm hands landed with soft smacks on his ass in an instant, startling him up from his submissive posture. He gasped with the sudden flare of surprise-borne alarm and sensation-borne pleasure and peeked over his shoulder at his smug little goddess.

“Couldn’t resist, Hades, was too pretty….”

He wriggled, smiling broadly, words abandoning him as he felt himself falling deep into the spell she didn’t seem to realize she’d woven over him from the first time.

_ Gods above, I’m a damned sub…. _

“I’m going to go get my harness on; put your head back down and wait patiently for me, please.”

He hummed and did as she commanded.

He would wait eternities for her….

Time fell away as he hovered in the anticipation. His cock was pretty much hard already, his pulse thrumming through the shaft as he tried to maintain what might pass for steady breathing. His ass tingled, warm where her hands had been, and he consciously focused on his anus for a while, relaxing the muscles in his groin in preparation even as he longed to clench with the promise of penetration.

_ Such a fucking bottom…. _

He heard her footsteps when she emerged from the bathroom, but he did nothing about that realization. He waited, and when she climbed onto the bed he sighed.

“Thank you for doing as I asked, Hades. I’m very grateful to you for giving me control again….”

He chuckled softly. “So formal, goddess….”

“I have my reasons; I want to make something clear right now. I’m in control, yes? All of this is my choice?”

He opened his eyes even though he did not turn his head to see her; he stared at the wall beside the bathroom door. The panic tried to swallow him, but he fought it down. “Absolutely, Persephone. Every bit of this is your choice, and will remain so.”

“Good. Then I choose this, too.” Her left hand spread thin fingers over the middle of his back, and  _ very _ wet fingers trailed down his cleft, the lightest possible pressure stroking over his rim and down his perineum in a tingling trail of sensation and bliss.

“ _ Goddess, fuck! _ ” He trembled: the surge of emotions combined with the unanticipated pleasure of her fingers on his most sensitive areas sent him soaring, took him deep into a mental space he’d barely touched with any partner he’d ever had.

She trusted him enough to touch him this intimately with her bare skin….

He gave himself to her utterly with his heart in his throat and tears on his cheeks.

“You are exactly right for me, Hades. I know you’ve been waiting for this, and I’m ready. I know some of what you like now, and it pleases me to see you swallowed up in pleasure. We’re going to do a lot today, but we’re going to do this first, because this…. This, I like….” 

Her forefinger entered him, as natural as if she’d been doing this for eons, and he whined, pressing back toward her, begging for more.

She chuckled, leaning over him so her finger crooked a little inside him, pressing on the tightness of the wall just inside his rim. Her lips marked his lower back in fire, a little kiss there, a nip here, and his hips rolled up and down, back and forth, near circular motions encouraging her to give him  _ more _ .

“I like this, and we’re both going to really enjoy this, I guarantee it. I do have a confession to make though….”

He panted a wordless query when she slipped another finger inside him, and she ran her left hand up the plane of his back, her nails scraping softly and drawing a writhing shudder from his body.

“The plug and the other toy were just a ruse to throw you off the scent….”

He gasped as she spread her fingers apart within his channel, and his chest plowed into the mattress when her third finger pushed inside as she relaxed the other two from that stretch. He moaned, unashamed and loud enough to produce a reverberation from the window-wall.

A whispered moan of her own echoed his as she pushed and pulled and wriggled her deftly-dancing fingers inside his body. “Gods, Hades, that was hot….”

“ _ Hnh, goddess, mmmph…!” _

The waves of pleasure washed over him with every beat of his heart, tingling in his veins and thundering in his bones. It seemed an eternity and no time at all before she spread all three fingers, checking the resistance of his opening; she hummed with what she saw.

“Yes, mmmmm, good, Hades. So good for me….”

Her hands left him, he stayed where he was, panting against the sheets, and then the well-lubricated tip of her cock was there, pressing into his body, and he moaned for her again.

“That’s it, my love, mmmmmm, take it all in….”

He pushed back with what little strength and sense he still had, his mouth flying open even further as he felt her bare thighs finally come together with his own. The dildo spread him open far too well, filled him up, and he thought he could live like this, for all eternities, because he was hers, and she trusted him, loved him, wanted him to feel good, and damned if it didn’t feel better than good, so good…!

“Gonna fuck you now, Hades; you want that?”

He nodded, panted what should have been a  _ yes _ , and then her hips were rolling against him over, and over, and nothing mattered anymore but sensation:

Her thighs meeting his with little slaps and harder smacks.

The tug and press of her cock inside him, deep and shallow and deep and deeper.

Her teeth on his back, leaving tiny marks that burned like stars.

Her tongue tracing mazes around those marks, and hot breath melting his bones beneath his skin.

And her breasts, smashed into his back, her nipples poking-hard and the rest of her flesh soft-and-supple, distracting and enhancing his pleasure as he realized through the haze that she trusted him  _ that _ much now, too.

“Mmmmm, Hades, you feeling good?”

_ “Yes, yes, yes!” _

“Good. I want you to come for me, and then we’re gonna do something new again. You ready to come?”

_ “Fuck, don’t…. I need…. Shit!” _

“I know what you need, lover….”

Her breasts smashed harder into his back, as if she’d laid down fully on him, and then - 

_ “ _ **_Shit, goddess, yes, fuckfuckfuckkkk!!!_ ** ”

Her hands were tight around his cock, both of them reaching to make her fingertips touch around the girth of his too-full hardness, and his hips thrashed forward and backward, senseless and needing only the sensation of her touch on his needful shaft.

“Come for your Queen, Hades….”

He pushed forward, his cock sliding through the grip of her hands, and her hips slammed into him, forcing him into her touch that much more. He came, his entire existence narrowing to the feel of her fingers squeezing him, stroking every drop of cum from his twitching shaft. His ass twitched, his channel rippling around her dildo buried there to the hilt.

His eyes were closed, his head thrown back with the waves of ecstasy, but still he saw stars….

She kissed his shoulder blades repeatedly as the aftershocks forced panted grunts from his lips. She held onto his cock until his head fell forward, and then she leaned even more into him, forcing him down to the mattress. He went, laying his body out beneath her as her dildo slipped out of him. 

“Mmmmm, Hades…. Thank you, that was exactly what I needed….”

He smiled: he’d fulfilled his Queen’s desire, her needs, and she trusted him enough to touch him in every way he’d ever craved….

He floated in the haze as she stroked over the back of his thighs, over his back, as her fingers kneaded the taut-trembles from his ass-cheeks….

He floated until he heard the buckles of her harness unclasping, and then he rolled over….

* * *

Persephone had waited until the instincts that were slowly growing more active in the back of her mind insisted that her King was ready for what she wanted next. She resisted the urge to strip the harness from her body, instead providing Hades with grounding sensations along his legs, his back, his ass, until she felt that insubstantial nudge in her soul, somewhere beyond the fulfillment left behind at seeing her lover undone in pleasure. 

Only now did she begin to open the buckles on her harness, leaning away from Hades as he began to roll over to face her. She stayed quiet, letting him discover her next surprise for himself.

His eyes shot open as he realized she wasn’t wearing her customary beneath-harness shorts, or panties, or anything but the harness which was now  _ off _ ….

She was naked before him for the first time, and she leaned toward him to swipe the tears from his eyes as his emotions overwhelmed him again. 

“I told you we’d be doing a lot of new today. It’s okay, this is my choice, my control….” He sniffled, smiling at her with his entire heart in his eyes, and she chuckled quietly. “Um, do you need something else before we move on…? Um, is there some aftercare something I can do for you…?” He shook his head, never taking his eyes from her face. She cocked her head at him, pursing her lips slightly. “Can you talk to me, Hades? I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings….”

He cleared his throat, and his voice was a little hoarse when he finally responded. “I’m overwhelmed with you, goddess…. Could…. Could you, um, hold me…?”

She moved up the bed until her hips were near his shoulders. She guided his shoulders half-onto her lap, petting over his head and stroking the backs of her fingers along his cheeks. “How’s this, Hades…?”

He sighed, and she felt her heart skip a beat as Hades’ left hand reached for the top of her foot. She shifted to bring her legs more aligned along his torso, and he hummed. “Beautiful….”

A peaceful silence laid over the bed like a down comforter; she felt the tension bleeding away as Hades’ fingers danced over her foot, as hers played along his scalp and cheekbone and jaw. A few minutes later, Hades turned his head on her lap, a soft rustling of his hair along her tummy and thighs as he shifted. 

“I think I’m okay now, goddess. Please tell me what you want of me next?”

She laughed softly, not wanting to disturb the peace of their moment. “What I want of us, for us….”

A twinkle in his eye at that: she wondered (not for the first time) just how many of his past partners had taken more than they’d given when they were with her kindly King. “What does my goddess want of us, then…?”

She tapped his shoulder and he lifted his head from her lap. She turned to kneel on the bed, facing him, and felt a sudden surge of warmth and pressure in her groin. “I want you to use your mouth on my breasts like you said you wanted earlier in the week.” He licked his lips, a feisty glint in his eyes now along with a flare of bloody-red. “And, while you do that, I want those big ole’ fingers between my legs….”

_ And damn, if his fingers aren’t twitching against the sheets…! _

She crawled over the bed, never taking her eyes from his until she was nearly over his face. Once she broke that soul-sparking contact, his hot breath was on her neck, followed by a gentle-dancing tongue in the hollow of her throat. She knelt beside his hip, her knees angled out slightly to bare her groin; she wrapped her arms around his neck, and settled in for a ride like she’d only had once before.

Only this time, it would be  _ more _ ….

She was ready; she wanted this….

His mouth traveled lower, slowly, the meandering path a wonderful distraction. She’d almost expected him to go straight for the prize; but she should have known better, too.

He was a giver, her lover, and a damned good one at that….

His kisses down the planes of her chest were a little more forceful now that she was settling in to the surges of sensation: he was opening his mouth less, sucking harder through the smaller space, targeting veins and nerves she didn’t know she had. Her mouth fell open, and she started panting and rubbing her cheek against his mussed silver hair, the smell of his shampoo and the scent that was all him a heady thing on her tongue as she drank the air….

His hand was on her thigh now, fingertips scraping up and down along the muscles on top and the outside, and tingles raced from the soft-rough contact into her groin. He pulled his lips from the top of the breast he was focused on with a soft smacking sound, a hum in his throat as her hips wriggled from the different sensations tearing her apart.

She breathed his name on a whine, and he chuckled as his tongue swirled spirals down from where his lips had detached, closer, closer, closer to the tip of her heavy-feeling breast.

Her head flew back, a desperate cry flying into the air as his tongue flicked once over her nipple and his lips closed around it in the instant following that spike of pleasure. The suction he gave to her set  _ something _ boiling inside her, melting down and down, pooling out of her in tangible heat between her legs. His hand was dancing over the  _ inside _ of her thigh now, and her hips swayed harder, random motions as she hunted aimlessly for touch, touch, she needed him to -

“Hades, if you love me, touch me now, dammit!” She growled the words through gritted teeth, her head still arched backward, arms straining to pull Hades closer, bending her spine drastically to push her chest toward his hot-wet mouth.

He moaned around her nipple, opening his mouth wider and damn near swallowing her breast, and his teasing fingers melted into the space between her legs. The heel of his hand was grinding into her clit and mons as his fingers stroked firmly up the valley below. 

She squeaked, nearly losing her grip around the back of his neck as she pushed down into his hand; she felt the tension in his shoulder as he prevented her near-collapse, and the thought that he was all but holding her up with one hand between her legs shot lightning through her veins.

A dozen scenarios played through her mind in rapid-fire succession, all the ways she could make him use his superior strength to her own advantage like this, and with a shivering moan, she felt a fluttering inside her pelvis, a clenching-releasing spasm or three that left her breathless.

Her heart was thundering in her chest, and as she lowered her face to Hades’ hair again, rubbing back and forth over his ash-scented strands, a strange mixture of bliss and anxiety flooded her mind.

As she surfaced a little further from the haze, the anxiety notched up slightly; her heart pounded faster, so she moved her hands to grip Hades’ biceps.. 

“Hades, stop, please.”

He released her breast instantly; in the same moment, he pulled his hand from between her legs. She sat back on the mattress (flopped, really) and stared over Hades’ shoulder, trying to make sense of what was happening to her. 

_ Adrenaline…? Feels like adrenaline…. _

_ Heart’s racing, breathing is fast…. Duh, had a damn orgasm…! _

_ Why the hell do I feel a little scared…? _

“Sweetness…?”

She met Hades’ eyes, and knew he saw the confusion in hers. She licked her lips and tried to find the words. “I…. I don’t know, I…. I liked it, it felt damn good, but I think my body’s confused for some stupid reason...?” His face crumpled, and she scrambled over the mattress toward him. “No, Hades, no, hey, this isn’t anything you did, I just need a minute to figure it out!”

He turned his head away, refusing to meet her eyes. “You’re not scared of me, are you…?”

“No! No, I just think my wires are crossed or something. I’m not scared of you, remember, and you did everything I asked you to, including stopping.”

“You’re safe with me, you know you’re safe with me….” 

_ Why do you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself and not me…? _

“Yes, Hades, I’m safe with you. Can we just…. Can we take a few minutes and just calm down, and then we’ll talk all this over, I swear.”

He sniffled, nodding carefully. She flopped back to the mattress again, this time right beside his knees. She left one hand on his thigh, needing the contact, for both of them she was sure.

There was a rather awkward feeling hanging heavy in the air when Hades finally turned his head toward her. She met his eyes, taking a slow breath before she spoke. “Okay. First, I fuckin’ enjoyed that.” He smiled, and she grinned wide. “I did, really and truly. But I can’t explain it any better than this: I think my damn body just got confused and fuckin’ panicked.”

Hades wet his lips. “Minx, you need to watch that mouth….” His words were teasing enough, but his eyes were guarded.

_ Oh, no, nope, nuh-uh, no  _ **_fuckin’_ ** _ walls! _

“I’ll try, but Hades, I promise, it wasn’t you! So, please, why are you beating yourself up over my problem?!”

He swallowed.  _ Come on, you big blue dork, spill! _ “Goddess, I…. I promised myself, that first day, remember? When I first touched you there…. I made myself a promise that if you kept reaching for me, I’d make sure you forgot you had ever feared the bed. I broke that promise today….”

“No! Stop that!” She  _ pounced _ onto his lap, her hands capturing his cheeks. “You have kept that promise, a dozen times over! I don’t fear the bed, and I am not afraid of you! I just…. I think I need more time to convince my body that orgasms are not a panic-thing. I just think the physical response is a little mixed up, but mentally, and emotionally, that was fuckin’ awesome!”

He swallowed again, his eyes terribly sad. “I need you to feel safe with me….”

“I do! Please hear me, Hades: I do feel safe with you!”

He searched her eyes for a moment.  _ Cosmos help you if you think I’m not telling you the truth, Hades, I swear…. _ “Okay…. Thank you….”

She trailed her hands down to his shoulders. “I’m missing something, Hades... What the hell was that all about?”

He stared at a freckle on her shoulder as his hands coasted softly up and down her thighs. His cock was nearly soft, she realized suddenly, not quite between her legs but definitely not far from her crotch. She ripped her mind from that distraction as he sighed heavily, sadly, still. “I didn’t want you to feel obligated, Persephone. This is all still so new to you, and I didn’t think it would be that much an issue, we were doing so well…. My…. My realm of influence…. I, um, I n-need others to feel s-s-safe around me. That’s…. That’s why I’m the King here: I make the Underworld safe, and the shades, everyone who works here knows that. They don’t have to  _ like _ it here, but the Underworld is the safest Realm under the Cosmos, because I make it so.”

She blinked frantically to clear the sudden mist from her eyes.  _ My gods…. He offered me help the first time we met, every time; he took care of me when I was drunk in the back of his car, he…. Everything he’s ever done for me…. Making sure the photogs aren’t at the stores when we go shopping, bonding me to Cerberus, his panic over the press conference…. Everytime we’re in bed…. _

“.... Hades, you fulfill  _ my  _ realm of influence, why would you think I wouldn’t want to return the favor?!”

He chuckled hollowly, meeting her stare from the corner of his eye. “Because it’s not any one action, like me cumming for you, Persephone. I don’t get, um, soul-gasms. It’s more an ambient thing, an atmosphere…. It’s actually why I’ve got the huge pack of dogs, even the bratty ones. They’re safe here, and they know that, feel that, so it gives me a dose that’s always there, even if things are shit elsewhere….”

More pieces of the puzzle fit together in her mind. “Hades, when Apollo came into our home, when he tried to hurt me….”

“Yeah…. It was more than just defending you as my Queen…. What the…. What that shitty little sun-god did was a direct affront to my realm of influence, and I was… messed up. Same reason I was so messed up for a while when my father attempted escape that one time. Hecate got hurt, she was terrified, and I had to fix it….” He held her gaze as she thought that over.

“But, you say you’ve never had a soul-gasm…?”

“I knew it was something that could happen, but no; my realm of influence is too wide-spread, I think. I just don’t think it’s possible….”

“But…. Okay, tell me if I’m stepping over a line, here, but you seem to need  _ me _ to feel safe  _ more _ than anyone else….”

He looked away again. “It feels that way, but I don’t know what to do about it. That’s why I said I didn’t want you to feel obligated; you have your own things to sort out, figure out…. This is mine….”

She grasped his chin, tugging gently until he looked in her eyes once more. “We figure these things out together, Hades. We are stronger, together. Please remember that….” She put her arms behind his neck and pulled him tightly to her; his arms wrapped around her lower back, and they stayed that way for a few minutes, nothing between them but their love.

Her mind was racing, the entire time, possibilities and theories formed and discarded and reapplied. Memories of the weekend before, of cosmic-black skin and a thunderous voice of shadows, speaking in a dialect older than anything else in her experience….

_ Safety…. His realm of influence is safety…. _

“Hades, look at me, I want to try something….”

He chuckled but obeyed. “My curious goddess, always exploring….”

She smiled, and the little instinctive nudges in her mind prodded her onward. “Ασφάλεια, φίλτατος….”  _ Safety, my beloved…. _

A flash of icy-blue flared over Hades’ eyes, dancing around the ring of his irises as he gasped. He leaned back further, his hands trembling around her waist as he held onto her; she smirked, and he shivered as she fit her key into the padlock around his soul.

“ _ Goddess… _ .” His voice was breathless, this time, barely even audible though they were mere inches from each other.

She said it again. “Ασφάλεια….”

As his soul accepted her offering, she felt her own power dancing in the fulfillment of his: her realm of influence wasn’t only  _ physical _ pleasure, it would seem.

He pulled her tighter to him suddenly, hugging her desperately and peppering her neck with kisses. She giggled, trying to find a breath to say it once more. He whined, and suddenly his mouth was on hers, stopping her plans mid-track.

He pulled away, their foreheads resting together as they panted. “No more, little goddess…. Too new, need to go slow….”

She tilted her face up and kissed the tip of his nose. “Okay, dear…. But there’s more where that came from, and all you have to do is ask….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Obviously we should talk a little more about Persephone's orgasm-confuse here. 
> 
> It is literally that: a confusion betwixt what she is consciously enjoying and what her body has become... attuned to associate in sensations. The physical sensations of orgasm can be biologically similar to a fight-or-flight response. Persephone does not regret anything, and she does not think Hades stepped over a line. One of the points my anonymous source pointed out to me? - I initially had Persephone putting her hands on the front of Hades' shoulders rather than gripping his biceps when she told him to stop, and that read as more panicky. She wasn't panicky - she was confused and needed a little space. For my source and Persephone, this is something that - while not expected - was more an experience that simply needed to be worked through. It is not a red-line hard-stop. It is a speed-bump....
> 
> Next: skin.... FINALLY! Gah...! 
> 
> And then: MORE SKIN! Heh!
> 
> Okay, enough failed comedy....
> 
> Regarding Hades' realm of influence: I have been building this out SINCE CHAPTER ONE OF WICK'D! If you ever wish to go back and re-read, you'll see that so many of Hades' internal thoughts are coded from his realm of influence. Additionally, canonically, so much of Hades' actions can be lit with this world-build. 
> 
> I'd love to know y'alls thoughts....
> 
> Additionally, the Greek text reads as : Asfaleia, filtatos.... which is just poetic enough for a happy....
> 
> The next chapter is MOST likely going to be something with plot, and maybe some porn. There will definitely be feels. 
> 
> Persephone is deciding she doesn't want to wait more than a week to find closure with her mother. 
> 
> It's time to call Demeter....
> 
> Ahem.... I think I, too, am ready. 
> 
> If you would like to comment, comment mods are still in effect on my end, but I... shall endeavor to respond here. Thank you all for giving me a little space. I look forward to being more present....
> 
> We're back, little ones...?
> 
> Much love from  
> -Swoonie, the Muses, the Titans, the Primordials, the entire Headspace Gang....  
> 19 May 2020


	15. Sense and Scents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, my dears. We have warnings and things to look for:
> 
> Instances of bullying and insulting behaviors and situations, present and past  
> Body Image Insecurity due to trauma  
> Slight misalignment of intentions stemming from miscommunication (resolved in scene)  
> Heavier dominance and submission dynamics developing (more instruction/command and obedience as well as submissive posturing and trust displays)  
> Curiosity-based hand-jobs  
> Hand and mouth on breast, heavy petting, and clitoral, vulval, and vaginal fingering
> 
> World-building and reasoning notes provided at the end of chapter, because there's a looooooot happening here. 6100 words of plot, emotions, and yes, some porn....
> 
> (Work tags have also been updated to reflect this chapter's developments, as well as last chapter's because I did a forget.)
> 
> Once again I worked closely with an anonymous survivor to make sure this worked in the way Persephone and myself needed it to. 
> 
> So very many thanks go once again to my beta-feesh Rissa, for not only her grammatical double-checks but her insights and enthusiasm. I dealt with some imposter syndrome trying to finish this chapter, and it would not have gotten done without her. Thank you, dear, so much.
> 
> Enjoy....

Hades swirled his coffee idly around the mug as he lounged on the couch, watching the dogs scuffling around the floor. Cerberus prowled the edges of the mosh pit of fur, every so often bopping one of the dogs on the top of their head with a large velvet paw. Hades chuckled when he realized his hound was preventing the older dogs from taking too much advantage of Pomelia as she growled and pounced and tackled her way through the horde. 

Persephone came into the living room and both Cerberus and Hades were distracted for a moment as they watched her, the need to calmly take stock of her presence quickly becoming habitual. She smiled at Hades and giggled as he turned back to observing the pack’s playful dynamics.

“I like this, Hades: a lazy Sunday morning with you and the dogs.” He hummed, bringing his mug to his lips and sipping at his hazelnut-laced coffee. “But I do have something I need to do. Can we talk for a minute…?”

He turned to her as she sank onto the other side of the couch, calm still even though he knew he’d have been anxious just a couple of weeks ago.  _ That soul-gasm thing worked wonders on my panicky responses….  _ “Of course, sweetness. What’s on your mind?”

“My mother.”  _ Aaaaaaaand there it is; dammit, easy, Hades, easy….  _ “I think I’m ready to talk to her about everything, but I wanted to have her come here. I want her to  _ know _ I belong here; I want her to feel that when she comes to our home. And I want you here too: I’m not worried she’ll try to hurt me or anything, I just think this is an  _ us _ -thing, not just a  _ me _ -thing. So, how do you feel about that…?”

“That makes sense to me, Persephone; and I never thought I would love hearing you say  _ our home _ so very much. Thank you for that….” She smiled, happy that he seemed happy. “Were you going to invite her today?”

“Yeah. I want to get this taken care of before we go back to work tomorrow. Is that okay? I know we were both liking our quiet weekends….”

“I agree. Let’s tend to this now, rather than let it simmer and stew. She’s your mother, sweetness. You deserve her in your life if that’s what you want.”

She threw herself across the couch, hugging him tightly, kissing his neck repeatedly. “Thank you, Hades! I know you don’t particularly like her, but I don’t want to lose my mom if I can help it. There’s some things that are gonna have to change, but I think she’ll fall in line. I’m going to call her!” She sprang off the couch and raced down the hall. The dogs pursued, excited giggles and happy yips echoing through the house as their favorite person realized she’d been stalked.

Hades stared out the sliding door into the romp-yard, his hand tight on his mug; the ceramic crackled in his grip as he tried to force the icy feelings away.

_ Persephone loves you. It doesn’t matter to her. If it had, she’d have said something by now…. _

_ Thesmophoria won’t be that much of a bitch to bring it up, not with her daughter’s approval on the line…. _

_ You can do this, Hades…. _

_ It’s been nearly twenty centuries…. _

_ …. _

_ Why does it still hurt so much…? _

* * *

The doorbell rang and Persephone jolted up from the kitchen table. She’d been sitting, almost-patiently, for the last fifteen minutes while Hades put the finishing touches on the platter of sandwiches and pita and dips he’d been working on for their visit with her mother. And then the doorbell had rung….

“I’ll go let her in, you get that done and meet us in the living room?!”

Persephone was already through around the doorway and into the hall as Hades mumbled a quiet acknowledgement. She raced for the front door, sliding in her fluffy socks as she entered the foyer. She flung the door open and threw herself into her mother’s arms.

“Mama!” Her mother didn’t say anything, only held her stiffly, and Persephone pulled herself back over the threshold, trying to figure out why her mother’s nose was crinkled as if she’d smelled something  _ off _ in her pantry. “Mama, come on inside, it’s all drizzly and stuff out here.” She took her mother’s fingers and pulled Demeter into the house. The goddess came, albeit stiffly and with her eyebrows furrowed deeply above her nose. 

Persephone tugged her mother into the living room and plunked onto the couch, dragging Demeter down with her. The tray of sandwiches and dips was already on the coffee table, along with the tea service, but Hades was nowhere to be seen. 

“Kore, I - ”

“Mama, wait. I told you, all three of us are talking together. We’re waiting for Hades.”

“Little bean, I - ”

“I didn’t mean to keep you ladies waiting; I was only making sure the dogs were contained.” Hades walked to the armchair across the low table, his slightly-more-casual slacks and black polo-type shirt fitting him much more closely than the comfy sweats and t-shirt he’d been wearing earlier.  _ Oh, he wanted to make a better impression for Mama, that’s so sweet! He’s gonna get a treat later, yep! _

“It’s okay, Hades; we weren’t waiting long at all! Thank you for the snacks….” She smiled at him, but his answering grin was rather guarded. Persephone took that to mean he was doing his best to seem as neutral as possible to avoid offending her mother.  _ He’s so sweet…. _

“Kore,  _ he _ made the food…?”

Persephone rolled her eyes at her mother’s wide-eyed worry. “Mother, that is an ancient and foolish superstition the mortals came up with to while away the hours! I promise you won’t be enslaved if you eat a finger-sandwich, honestly!”

Demeter eyed her askance but reached delicately for one of the triangles of bread and olive spread. “I was actually referring to the fact that I didn’t know the King of the Underworld cooked his own meals.”

Hades scoffed quietly but didn’t respond otherwise. Persephone glanced at him, and he shrugged, seeming very much ill at ease. She waited for his eyes to meet her own, and there was a tilt to his brows that told her he was terribly nervous, unsure of himself and worried about everything. 

She realized small talk wasn’t going to help and placed her hands on her mother’s tightly-bent knees. “Mama, there’s a lot we need to talk about. I have a couple of questions for you, and you will answer me honestly. I will know if you lie, or if you try to keep anything from me.”  _ At least, I will if this new power cooperates, but she doesn’t need to know I’m kinda sorta bluffing right now…. _

Her mother carefully swallowed her bite of sandwich and leaned to place the remainder on the empty saucer beside the tray. “I’ll do my best, little bean….”

_ Good, she’s trying, she’s really trying. This is gonna work…. _ “Okay. Did you know I am a fertility goddess…?”

Her mother gulped, her eyes sliding closed in shame. “Yes, I did.”

“Then why did you try to have me join TGOEM? Did you know what my realm of influence was?”

“I didn’t know exactly, and I don’t think I want to, little bean…. I consulted an oracle a few days after your birth, and I was told your power would lie in pleasing others. Hestia and I thought a life dedicated to the service of others like ours would suffice, and it would keep you safe….” Demeter opened her eyes and peered at Persephone through a film of tears. “I was trying to keep you safe, Kore baby….”

Persephone sighed, tensing her fingers on her mother’s knees. “I know you weren’t actively trying to hurt me, mother, but that would never have worked. I know what my realm of influence is now, and I’m strong because of it. I would have never been my full self if your plan had succeeded. Do you understand that…?” Her mother nodded, and trembling green hands moved to hold Persephone’s firmer fingers. She allowed the contact, and pressed on. “I know you don’t approve of men in general, but Hades is a good man, Mama. He is exactly what I need him to be, and I am safe here. He needs me, too, and I am not giving this up. I need you to be okay with that, even if you don’t like it. I want my mother in my life, but I cannot give up Hades or the Underworld. I belong here, Mama….” She took a deep breath, trying to rein in an impending ramble. “Can we be okay, Mama? Can you accept me as I am now, not as you would have liked me to become?”

Demeter’s thumbs brushed back and forth on the backs of Persephone’s hands, and Persephone knew a brief moment of panic as the silence stretched on before her mother nodded carefully. “I can, Persephone…. Can I tell you something - something I perhaps should never have kept from you…?”

“Thank you, Mama, and yes, of course, no more secrets, please….”

“.... I had a vision when you were born…. I was… well, I was a little overwrought, and I can see, now, what I didn’t see then….” Her mother’s tears were falling freely now, and Persephone knew she’d never seen this side of her mother before. “I saw you as you were a week ago: dark and different and wreathed in shadows, ichor and fire and wrath all around you. I saw…. I saw Aidoneus beside you, as dark and terrible as…. I saw a shadow and I thought it was his: I thought the shadow reached from the Underworld and dragged you away, took you away from everything I wanted for my little girl, from the light and the flowers and the sun….” Demeter’s voice was tight, strained enough that even clearing her throat didn’t seem to help. “I didn’t see, I didn’t realize that the shadow  _ pushed _ you to the Underworld when a yellow light came to hurt you…. If I had seen, I might have done things differently, but I didn’t, baby, and I’m sorry!”

Persephone held her mother as the grass-green goddess began sobbing helplessly. Hades shifted in his chair, and Persephone met his eyes over her mother’s slightly-tangled hair. She thought she knew what he was thinking. 

_ All those things she always told me about how  _ **_bad_ ** _ Hades and his brothers were: it was because she thought, from the start, that he would come to steal me away…. _

She soothed her mother with little hums and quiet murmurs of assurance until Demeter began to regain her composure. Finally, the older goddess leaned up and away, tugging a kerchief from a pocket in her slacks and swiping her eyes and beneath her nose. “Ugh, I’m so sorry, baby girl…. I…. I’ve been trying to prepare for this all week; I didn’t know when you’d call, but I…. I needed to make this right, too….” Her mother stowed her kerchief again and then took Persephone’s hands again. “I know I raised my girl to own her responsibilities. I know you intend to pay back the scholarship, but I wonder if you might let me do that instead…. I can’t change what happened to you in Olympus, and I can’t change what I misunderstood for years, but I can help erase the reminders of my mistakes and leave you free to do what you want and need in your life now…. Please, baby girl, let me wipe that debt clean…?”

Persephone’s mouth dropped open; in her day-dreamingest musings, she had never expected  _ this _ …. “Um…. Let me think about that, Mama; I don’t want anyone thinking the Queen of the Underworld lets her mother bail her out of stuff, but I also love that you made the offer…. Just let me think on it for a couple days.”

“Of course, baby….” Demeter turned to Hades, who visibly tensed. It almost seemed like he was terrified of her mother. “Aidoneus, I need to thank you for helping my daughter when I didn’t. I can’t change the past….” Persephone began to get a little worried at how close to tears Hades seemed to be; she wanted to run across the room and hold him, but she couldn’t seem to move as she watched her mother and her lover interact. “But I can try to be more understanding in the future…. For my daughter’s sake, if nothing else. I can’t deny the truth I saw last weekend: she and you…. I can’t understand it, but I can accept it.”

Hades scoffed slightly, the sound strangled in his throat. “Thessie, I can’t change the past either. Gods know, I would if I could!” His eyes flared red, and Persephone let her mother’s hand grip her own as Demeter battled a wave of fear. 

“I can’t change my opinions, you know, Aidoneus. Everyone is entitled to their - ”

Hades surged to his feet, and Demeter recoiled into the couch cushions as a rumble rolled through the living room. Persephone fought down a surge of arousal in her gut as she tried to figure out what was going on. 

Hades’ voice was as deadly as a slow-grinding glacier when he finally spoke into the silence.

“And I can’t change what was done to me, Thesmophoria. Don’t you think I would if I could…? Do you think I like being this way…?!”

He stormed from the room, the windows and walls frosting and thawing as he passed. Demeter panted for breath, turning slowly to face Persephone with wide-eyes.

“.... Well, that was - ”

“ _ What did you do to him, Mother?!” _ Demeter scoffed, but Persephone would not be denied, not this time. “What happened between you two, huh?! I know you don’t like him; gods, you told me often enough that he was a good-for-nothing scoundrel, but that seemed a lot more personal than just rumor-based nonsense! What the hell, Mother?!”

“Language, Kore!”

“I’ll use whatever the hell language I want, Mother! You hurt the man I love, the King I rule beside, and you will tell me why and you will tell me fucking  _ now!!! _ ”

She was standing over her mother and she couldn’t quite remember when she stood up from the couch. Her mother seemed a little afraid, but that was good, if she was afraid she’d be less likely to attempt to lie….

“.... Honestly, Kore, I don’t understand how you can stand the smell….”

_ …. Fucking … what…? _

“Get out.”

“Kore - ”

“You will use my name, Mother, from this point forward, and you will leave our house right now. I’ll call you sometime. Get out.”

“Little bean, wait!”

Persephone was already heading down the hall, following the icy feeling of her King’s pain….

* * *

The water coasted around his waist, cool and gentle on his overheated skin. He held his hands palm-down on the swaying surface, letting the tiny waves push against his wrists, his fingertips; his feet were flat on the concrete floor of the pool, but his body still shifted back and forth with the currents that hadn’t yet died to nothing from his entrance to his sanctuary.

The memories tore at him, the years racing backward, from Minthe to Jas and Tollas and back through all his partners who had ever commented on the issue, the hundreds of colognes he’d tried through the centuries….

All the way back to those early days, his bandages tight around his arms and head and chest, his newly-growing skin itching under the poultices, and Hera’s golden-gleaming form the only one he had felt comfortable letting near him, because the ichor never seemed so blatant on her skin when she changed his bandages….

But then he’d been well enough to begin mingling with the others, his brothers and Hera’s apricot-toned sister and grass-bright friend, and it had been Thessie who made it real for him, that it wasn’t just his imagination….

_ “Cosmos Above, why do you smell like a corpse, Aidoneus?!?!” _

“Hades…?”

He didn’t turn to face her there at the edge of the pool; he kept his eyes closed and swallowed. “Is she gone…?”

“If she’s not right now, she’ll regret it when I go back out there in a while….”

“Careful, please, my Queen…. I don’t think I’ve got enough control to resist when you talk like that….”

“.... Hades, she’s an idiot….”

He spun to stare at her, slapping the water with a violent motion as he did. “You don’t have to lie to yourself for my sake, Persephone! I know I stink, but I can’t help it! All of it: the scars, my infertility, my fuckin’  _ smell _ \- I didn’t ask for any of this, but I can’t change it, and you love me and that’s all that matters but you don’t have to lie about  _ this! _ ”

She glared at him as he panted, and then she slipped into the pool. She walked toward him, the water wicking up her black camisole to cling against her breasts. “You are putting words in my mouth again, Hades…. I am not lying. She is an idiot. You don’t stink.”

He scoffed, backing away from her as she stalked him. “I’ll agree she’s an idiot, but I do smell awful; you said you wanted the whole Hades package, but - ”

“You smell like winter and wood ashes and smoke on the wind, Hades. It’s one of the first things I noticed about you, and I’ve liked it from the beginning. I don’t know where my mother gets off calling that a  _ stink _ and I’m telling you, right now, as your Queen, that you will stop saying you stink. You do not. You smell good. I like your smell, and you will respect that….”

His ass hit the wall of the pool, and her hands were on his chest in the next breath. His cock was hard in his swim-shorts, too hard; his little goddess was fully intent on his submission to her will, and he wanted nothing more than to bend and worship and beg forgiveness….

But two-thousand years….

“Sweetness, goddess, she was only the  _ first _ to tell me that…. There’s been dozens if not hundreds of others since…. They can’t all be idiots…!”

“They have to be, and they don’t matter one fucking bit, because you smell  _ good _ to me….” She floated up out of the embrace of the water and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her mouth covered his, and he moaned as the water dripped from her clothes down his body. He put his arms around her, taking her weight and pulling her against him more tightly, feeling her curves molding against his chest as she tangled her fingers in his damp hair.

He pulled his mouth from hers, moving to pant against her jaw. “Sweetness….” He didn’t know what he wanted to ask for; he only knew he  _ needed _ .

“I’m not ready for everything, Hades, but….” She nibbled her way along his jaw as she spoke, finishing with a hard nip on his earlobe before she pulled away to smirk at him. “But I want my King to know how much I love him, so maybe we can try something new…. But not in the pool, it’s a little chilly. Take me to our bed….”

He held his Queen against his chest as he turned for the stairs leading up and out of the pool, her lips and tongue and teeth continuing their devilish work all over his jaw and neck….

* * *

Persephone giggled when Hades leaned back against the bedroom door after kicking it closed. His head even thumped against the wood, and she moved her fingers up the back of his skull to massage over the point of contact. She unwound her legs from around his waist and slid down him to the floor. 

She sucked in a breath on a hiss as a very delightful bulge rubbed up the length of her body as she did so….

Hades moaned, and she stared up at him boldly, moving her hands down his torso to rest along the top of his hip bones. His head rolled forward, and she bit her lip when she saw just how huge his pupils were.

His eyes locked on her teeth and he shivered. “Goddess, I’m going to need to hear you say what you want from me, because I don’t think I can take this teasing….”

“Oh, but see, I wanted to raise my minx percentage….” She kneaded his skin, dipping her fingers beneath the waistband of his swim-shorts. “Where would you say I’m at right now, Majesty…?”

He hissed, a much more impressive sound than she had made, and his hips jerked toward her involuntarily. “Damn, woman…. Seventy-five, easilyyyyy….” She ran her fingers under the elastic, around to the front of his pelvis and then back to the sides, loosening the clammy fabric against his skin.

“Mmmm-mmm-mm. That won’t do at all. I think I’d like to hit at least ninety percent today. I’m feeling… salty….”

“Fuuuuuck….” His head thumped against the door again and she snickered as his cock twitched visibly beneath the fabric. She started to pull and wriggle the waistband down his hips, but he whined and one of his hands rushed through the air to cup her cheek. She stared up at him, tilting her head slightly and humming a question. “Persephone, please…. Tell me, say what you’re going to do…. I need to hear your boundaries….”

_ Ohhhhh! _ “Okay, Hades. No surprises today, then. I am gonna pull these off you, and I wanna get a closer look at you. Then I want you to pull these wet clothes off me. Then I’m gonna lay down on the bed, and I want to try that whole thing from yesterday over again, but I want you kinda more… on top…. Not all the way: more like, on your side but handling everything. And after that, depending how that goes, I wanna see you come. I want you to feel how much I trust you today, how much I love you, because of, ya know, everything earlier. How does all that sound…?”

He growled softly, and she smirked and started working his sticky shorts down his body once more. “Sounds real good, goddess….” He stared at her, she could feel him watching even though she was focused on stripping the soaked fabric from his body. 

She gasped a little when his cock found its way out of its fabric prison, nearly smacking her cheek. She laughed out loud as she bent over further, drawing the spandex down the long lines of his legs; he lifted one foot and then the other, and before she could straighten fully, his left hand trailed up her right hip, the touch tentative and hesitant: she could feel him wondering if he’d stepped over a line.

She smiled up at him, craning her head before she straightened up, and leaned into his fingertips. He sighed, his hand molding against her more forcefully, and she brought her hands to his groin once more.

The door creaked as he pressed his shoulders against it, pushing his hips toward her as she wrapped her hands around his cock. It was somewhat thinner than it had been yesterday, but she could feel the texture a little more easily now. His foreskin slipped easily over the muscles beneath, and the veins and little wrinkles here and there painted a mosaic of designs over the entire length of him, mingling with the starry scars that traced randomly near the base. She stroked him with both hands, one slightly offset from the other, and his hips began moving in a counter-rhythm to her motions, aiding the simulation of depth. 

She felt the building swirls of energy in her soul as Hades sank deeper into his pleasure, and she resisted the temptation to simply keep going. Her hands slowed, and she hummed to warn him before she pressed a soft kiss to the side of his glans. His fingers dug into her hip, and she wondered if she’d have bruises from his need….

“Okay, Hades, come with me over to the bed and then get these clothes off of me.” She straightened up, releasing his cock slowly as his eyes fluttered open. She walked backwards, leading him by the soul-deep contact between their eyes, until her legs hit the edge of the mattress. She took one step toward him, to keep from dripping on the sheets, and Hades took the cue to sink to his knees a mere foot from her position. 

His hands went to her hips, and his eyes flicked up, then down, then met her own again. She grinned; how sweet, that he was trying to ask her which piece first! “Top first, Hades, please.” He licked his lips and gripped the hem of her now soaked camisole between his fingertips. He leaned toward her, drawing the fabric up until it snagged under her breasts; she giggled and reached down to help maneuver it over and further up, and then she bent forward a little from her waist to let him pull the whole thing up and over her head. He tossed it away - she laughed as it landed somewhere with a loud  _ splat _ \- and then she sighed as he trailed his hands down from her shoulders, over her collarbones, around the outside of her breasts and down her waist. 

_ Oh, yeah, this was definitely the right idea, Perse, good girl! _

His fingertips were tender when he dipped them behind the waistband of her shorts; he groaned long and gutturally as he realized that was the only waistband she had today. She giggled and winked at him as he looked to her for permission to continue.

“Keep going, Majesty; I want this so bad, I even went commando….”

He leaned forward suddenly, pressing a kiss to the little pudge below her belly button; she squeaked, and he froze, his eyes staring up at her with his lips puckered against her skin.

“Oh, no, Hades, was a good squeak! Keep going, please, shorts off!”

He kissed her tummy repeatedly as he pulled and tugged her shorts down over her ass and thighs. She braced her hands on his shoulders to get her feet out one at a time, and then Hades’ arms were around the back of her thighs, holding her steady as he kept kissing her tummy. She started giggling as the heat his lips left on her skin trickled deeper inside her, and she squirmed a little as she felt a warmer wetness taking the place of the dampness the pool had left between her thighs. 

“Mmmmmm, Hades, okay, lemme get onto the bed, le’go, please….”

He obeyed, staying on his knees on the floor as she jumped backward; she smirked as she watched him staring as her breasts swayed when she settled into the middle of the bed, far enough up that he’d be able to lay down beside her like she wanted, and she beckoned him with a jerk of her chin.

As he crawled up onto the bed, she lay backward, until they both settled to the mattress in nearly the same moment. She hummed, he sighed, and their eyes met once more, intensity and understanding flowing between them without the need for words.

He knew what she wanted; she knew he would go only that far. 

Her right hand cupped the back of his head and dragged him closer for a kiss as his right hand drifted up from her hip to dance over her stomach and make its way closer to her breast….

She was ready to feel pleasure and only pleasure; she wouldn’t let her brain mess it up this time….

* * *

Her words grounded him, gave him the knowledge he craved of her boundaries, and in the depths of his soul, he knew he would be able to keep squarely within their power-bright lines. His Queen commanded. For her, he would provide.

He kissed her only deeply enough to leave her panting through her nose: not quite a tease, but definitely not  _ enough _ , based on how her body was beginning to squirm beside him on the sheets. He kept his right hand hovering over her skin, skimming and providing hints of friction that would increase her sensitivity to every touch. Her mouth fell open more and he accepted the invitation, probing a little more thoroughly with his tongue and encouraging her slowly-building moans with hums from deep in his chest. 

His right hand cupped around the farthest edges of her left breast, his thumb coming to rest just below her nipple, and she broke the kiss with a mewling whine. Ignoring his need to pant for breath, he immediately moved his mouth to the space beneath her chin, suction and the smallest touch of his teeth forcing her head to cant backward, baring her throat to him. 

He barely managed to fight down the growl he  _ ached _ to release as that single motion stoked his dominant tendencies; she was nowhere near ready to deal with  _ that _ side of him….

He kissed her throat, reveling in every soft sound she uttered as he made his way down the pathway of her tendons to the point where her breast began to mound up from her ribcage in supple curves of bright-flushing fuchsia skin. He pressed repeatedly with his thumb, shifting left or right with every in-and-up-again motion, and from the corner of his eye he watched her nipple hardening at the distraction. Her right hand fell from the back of his head, but she replaced it nearly immediately with her left; her fingers scraped a little against his scalp as he found a particularly sensitive spot about halfway to her nipple’s summit: he suckled that spot with a pulsating rhythm and her mewling pants ratcheted up nearly instantly to a moaning whine of need; her hand fisted in the shorter hairs near the crown of his head, and he took pity on his little goddess and moved on once again.

Though he made sure to file that spot in his brain for further  _ explorations _ later on.

Her breathing got deeper as his mouth got closer to her nipple; he knew she was focusing more attentively now, and he felt his submissive streak flaring brighter as he made the conscious decision to please his goddess to her satisfaction once again.

His lips closed over her nipple, and he nearly immediately began drooling as she  _ moaned _ , as deeply and heartily as he had yesterday when she slipped her fingers into his ass. He rumbled an answering hum into her skin as he suckled and teased her bud with his tongue, and he let his hand start its delicately-tracing journey back down her body. 

Her right hand mirrored his hand’s path in reverse along his own torso, and he sucked harder for a few pulses in thanks. Her hand left his skin as she took up a fresh grip in his hair, her fingers snagging more of the longer strands this time; he was a little shocked and quite a bit delighted when he felt her right breast suddenly pressing into the lower edge of his own pec:

She’d obviously grabbed hold of her own flesh and was taking her pleasure as she wished with him hovering over her body from the side. 

He pulled his mouth from her nipple only long enough to pant something that should have been “ _ goddess” _ into the air before he dove back onto her breast, mouth wide open and tongue writhing desperately as he worked to please his Queen. 

She tightened her hold on his hair, forcing his head down further. He went willingly, lowering his torso so she could receive more friction to her other breast on his ribs and chest. His hand was finally nearing its goal in the short forest of curls beneath her tummy pudge. He stroked through those curls, a silent query only her body could answer, and as her hips tilted up and her legs bent wide apart, he knew she was ready.

He rubbed the heel of his hand in a firm stroke down her mons as he stretched his fingers; it took no thought at all to keep suckling and working her breast with his tongue as his hand found its goal in her soaking cleft. He pressed the pad of his thumb to one side of her clit, rubbing gently for a few heartbeats until her hips began to flex up and down; he watched her feet through half-opened eyes as she planted them on the mattress and began to really chase the friction of his thumb on her sensitive bud. 

He loosened his mouth around her breast, returning after a deeply-inhaled breath to bring his puckered lips to her nipple once again as he began stroking the rest of his fingers from the lower edge of her perineum up to the base of her clit. He repeated the motion, never varying the pressure or speed, and her hips’ grinding motion began to match the rhythm he set. Her fingertips were flexing repeatedly against his scalp, and her other hand left her breast suddenly and reached over the top of his back, trying hard to pull him down onto her body. He braced himself with his left hand in the mattress, refusing her in this alone: he wouldn’t crush her, but he did shift his knees back so her hard-pebbled nipple could reach his skin again. 

She was panting, hard, and he listened to the song of her passion with every brain cell he could spare. If she needed anything, he wouldn’t fail her.

The scent of her body shifted as he breathed deeply through his nose, her hips beginning to flex more rapidly, more frantically: roses, ambrosia, honey and sandalwood exploding in his nostrils as she got closer to her pleasure. He did nothing to change his tactics on her breast or between her thighs, but he forced his own heavy breathing to a near-crawl, listening as his name fell from her lips in broken rasps of pleasure.

“ _ Ha-des, puh, fuhh, inside, please, neeeeeeed!” _

He obeyed his goddess, slipping his middle finger inside her drenched opening on the very next stroke. Her hips flew upward, her shoulders pressing hard into the mattress as her body locked into a beautiful bow of ecstasy. Her nails clawed into his shoulder-blade and her knuckles were bony on his scalp where she was fisting his hair with the explosion of pleasure. The flutters of her silken walls around his finger made him groan around his mouthful of her breast, but he made sure to keep providing her with the pulses of suction and the flickers of his thumb on her clit.

She collapsed a few seconds later, and he eased up his work on her breast and stilled his hand between her legs. Her arms fell to the mattress and her legs flopped down the bed at odd angles. His middle finger was still only barely within her opening, but he refused to move without some kind of direction from her. 

He would not ruin this for her….

She was panting, and then her right hand patted on his ribs faintly. “Enough, please….” He released her breast and pulled his hand from her core, leaning up and away to kneel on the mattress as he waited for whatever was next. 

Her eyes were hazy with bliss, and she smiled at him a little faintly. “Wow….”

He chuckled; he’d pleased her, and this time, there was no confusion for her. He was so proud he could have burst….

And he wondered….

“Goddess, may I….” She blinked at him, waiting for him to  _ just ask _ : it was as if he heard the words in her not-quite-glare. “May I lick my fingers…?”

“You better….” She panted a few times as he stared at her growing smirk. “That I’d like to see….”

He brought his hand to his mouth and licked every one of his fingers twice over, staring into her eyes the whole time. Her pupils were huge, the black nearly swallowing the happy-bright ring of floral color, and she licked her own lips as he sucked his middle finger for the last of the taste of her pleasure.

A devilish smirk made him nearly tremble as he lowered his hand from his mouth.

“Hades... something else you could do with that mouth….”

_ Oh, gods, she’s gonna be the end of me…. _

“And what might that be, my little minx…?”

“Kiss me, and then taste me down there….”

He groaned as he leaned toward her, obeying her command with a wide-open mouth and dancing tongue….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....
> 
> HOLY SHIT!
> 
> No, I did NOT expect Persephone to just... up and....
> 
> She surprised the HELL outta me!
> 
> But here's the thing - I've always... ALWAYS... known that my headspace players develop organically. I may have thoughts, but when it actually comes down to it, I have to tell the story they want me to tell....
> 
> And Persephone has decided she is reclaiming her pleasure, commanding her own body/mind/emotions to let her experience this in the way she wants, and nothing is gonna stop her now!
> 
> So, let's talk for a brief moment about the dynamic here. Persephone was already wanting to give Hades "a treat" for putting up with and trying to be pleasant to her mother. Then she switches tactics and wants Hades to KNOW she loves him, so her "treat" becomes more of a "gift," something she still intends for him. 
> 
> However....
> 
> When it comes down to it, when the chips are down and the cards laid out, Hades is still in a veeeery submissive mindset. He begs Persephone for her instructions, and while he does have some dominant instincts trying to surface when she bares her throat to him, he shoves them waaaaaay down: "For her, he will provide."
> 
> Obviously, this is entirely different from the weekend before when he lost control and nearly "took" from her. He is upset, of course, after Demeter's visit, but he is less messed-up because of the stability Persephone has granted him with both her verbal instructions and the soul-gasms he never thought he could experience. 
> 
> Persephone is growing into her sexuality as well as her fertility powers. (And did y'all catch the hints of some seductive siren-song hiding out in here? That's still budding into bloom, too....)
> 
> Hades is now matching her progress and putting down roots as her submissive King, even more deeply than he has to date.
> 
> Mmmmph. Things are gonna ramp up a bit, but we're not *quite* there all the way yet. Persephone is developing a plan, and she will not be swayed....
> 
> Now - regarding the worldbuilding here with Hades' smell....
> 
> Scientifically speaking, B.O. is generally caused by bacteria feeding on sweat. However, there are other factors at play here, from pheromones to sebum and other body secretions through the pores. Here's where I was coming from:
> 
> Much of Hades' skin was harmed during his time inside Kronos. When he was finally freed, and they had to run (and remember, poor bean just fell down a damn lot, hence scars), he had a lot of healing to do. And essentially, many of the upper layers of his skin were damaged on a micro-level from the stomach acid. 
> 
> Basically, for me, it makes sense that when his skin regrew and healed, it was still not quite right, not what it would have been without that deep trauma. His entire skin chemistry was affected: hence, his scent, stemming from all the various sources B.O. comes from, is not the best....
> 
> Whether it really isn't as bad as he thinks, or whether Persephone is just inexplicably attracted to that, it doesn't matter.
> 
> She likes his smell, and he will respect that....
> 
> Okay.... Obviously, the next chapter is... going to be more feels and fluids. It will take me some time to get it done - I'm back working again this weekend, and I have one chapter of M'kay to write because that one is also due for an update - but I promise, it will be worth the wait. Hopefully, this longer, more in-depth chapter will tide you lovelies over....
> 
> Until the next time, Much Love!
> 
> -Swoonie and the Headspace Gang  
> 21 May 2020


	16. Taste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does pick up immediately after the end of the previous chapter. You may want to re-read. In either case, please find within:
> 
> Oral of the mouth-on-vulva variety, including nose, tongue, and chin usage  
> Strange-form Intimacy - in the Hades-has-a-damned-good-tongue-and-magic-powers variation (y'all ready, snekky-sneks...?)  
> Cum-swallowing  
> Oral of the mouth-on-penis variant (hells, yes)
> 
> This chapter is.... It's Thirsty Thursday, and y'all waited long enough. Please enjoy 2256 words of pure fluids, feels, and fukken. Also, a touch of comedy, because why the hells not.
> 
> My thanks once more to Rissa for being my dearest wee beta feesh. Thanks, love!
> 
> Swoonie is not responsible for any embarrassment, blushing, or teasing resulting from readers' choice to possibly read in a public setting. This chapter is very much a thirst-inducer: you might need privacy, water, and ice to cool your jets....
> 
> Enjoy responsibly, but do enjoy....

Hades kissed his Queen as she’d commanded, his untouched erection beyond easy to ignore as the need to obey her in every way she wanted of him swallowed all the other thoughts in his mind. She had said it so plainly, so concisely:

_ Kiss me, and then taste me down there…. _

Cosmos Almighty, he’d take an infinite number of Stygian oaths to have her be that bluntly-innocently-vulgar every day for the rest of his eternities. 

Her fingers, both hands’ worth, were combing through his hair again, catching with soft snags on some half-tangled strands. The microshocks of pleasure-pain zinged down his neck, through his torso, forcing tremors from his muscles where he hovered at Persephone’s side.

_ …. Have to get her to hold onto my hair when I’m “down there….” _

Her lips unglued from his suddenly, and she stared at him with pleasure-hooded eyes. Her fingers tightened slowly in his hair, an involuntary reaction to the intensity of their bond and physical closeness: he felt his own hands gripping more tension into the mattress beside her body, and he flicked his eyes down toward her out-flung legs, asking, begging, pleading….

“Yes, please….”

He went immediately to the space she’d left for him, and then the logistics finally broke through his lust-addled mind.

“Um, goddess…. Do you want me on the floor or the bed…?”

“Hmmm…?” She seemed confused for a short moment, but a burst of tiny white blossoms decorated her temples as she realized what he meant. “Oh! Bed, please!”

“.... Scoot up a bit, then…?”

She giggled, thrashing and wriggling her way up the bed like a hooked fish. He snickered, following on his hands and knees. She settled with her head near the headboard, fingers knotting into a couple of pillows and thrusting them behind her neck so she could look down her body without strain, eyes still wide and hungry and curious, pixie cut mussed and tousled to hell and back, lower lip plump from their heated kissing.

_ …. Beautiful…. _

Her legs were still flat to the bed, spread-eagled to grant him space. He considered asking her to bend her knees, but thought better of it.

_ She’ll figure that out herself if she likes this…. _

He lowered his body to the mattress, his eyes tracking the way her gaze followed the play of shadows and soft lamplight as his shoulder muscles rolled, taking the weight. He breathed out a little more heavily as his body trapped his erection against the mattress, but he reveled in the pressure, the dull ache and almost-pain:

_ For her, this is for her; I need nothing else…. _

He folded his arms beneath his chest and leaned forward, keeping his eyes on her face as he approached the center of her body. The moist heat of her arousal was tangible as the inches fell away, and that heady scent of roses and ambrosia and honey and sandalwood was an all-consuming thing; his mouth was watering at the thought that, if he pleased her, he could perchance taste this more often, forever and on….

_ Stop it, Hades…. This is about her, for her; just do it right…. _

There was no hesitation, no wariness or regret in her eyes as the tip of his nose finally brushed a few of her dark-rose curls. The tickle of those crinkled strands against his skin made him smile, and she beamed in reply. A spark of curiosity lit her eyes, and he pulled back slightly, knowing before she opened her mouth that she had a question.

“Hey, um, I could, uh, shave for next time if you like…?”

He chuckled, letting the rumble suffuse his voice as he leaned toward her once more. “No, thank you, goddess, I actually prefer full bush….”

“Really?! I thought guys liked…. Nnnnnnever miiind….”

He hummed softly as he ground the bridge of his nose into her mons, his mouth drifting open to mingle his breath with the heat pouring from her body. After a few panted breaths, he tilted his head, bring his mouth into alignment with her folds and letting the tip of his nose breach the tip of her cleft. She gasped softly, an inquiring mewl drifting into the air on the heels of her captured breath, and as her voice began to trail off, he closed the final distance, his tongue flattening against the valley of her body and his nose nestling alongside her hooded bud above.

Her gasp of delight was light, life, living, and he lapped slowly up through her folds, taking care to ensure both his nose and chin made contact with her body, one and then the other, as he completed the stroke. As he reached the limit of his neck’s flexibility and began a reversed stroke back down, she moaned, full-throated and guttural, and he huffed involuntarily as pre-cum shot from his cock in a jolt of pure lust. He clenched, hard, locking down the muscles in his pelvis and digging his fingers into his forearms beneath his chest, forcing himself with the pain to concentrate on his slow seduction of the goddess before him in the way she’d commanded of him.

And gods, could he  _ taste her _ ….

Rose-water and sparkling ambrose-wine, honey-mead and the purest spiced musk…. There were other notes and flavors mingled amongst the rest that he could put no label to:

They were simply  _ Persephone…. _

His nose butted against her clit again as his head tilted toward the mattress, and as he began another pass upward, he had to lean and shift on his forearms to follow as her hips rose, her knees bending and tiny feet dragging over the sheets to plant themselves in the cotton near his elbows. He rumbled his approval into her curls as he began guiding her back down, his right arm unlatching from his left and snaking into place under her thigh, over her hip, before he repeated the advance with his left arm.

She hummed, and his eyes met hers in need and want: she nodded, granting him permission yet again.

His fingers molded into place along the upper edges of her cleft, gentle pressure spreading her folds open so he could gain more access. He changed nothing else, continuing to simply lave his tongue up and then down within her core, his nose and chin providing counterpoints of pressure and friction with every pass. He all but stared at her, hardly blinking, watching the hints of possessive dominance lighting up behind her eyes as she watched him pleasure her.

Her breathing began to deepen, but she refused to look away. 

He began curling the tip of his tongue at the furthest reach of every grinding stroke, flicking over her clit and barely dipping within her entrance as he laved up and down each pass. It took a few tries before he got the timing right, but once he did, her eyes went wider in wonder, and he barely caught his smirk before it tightened the muscles in his jaw, which would have altered the steady pressure he was providing to his Queen.

“H-h-hades…. Could you….” He did not stop, did not even slow a fraction: she would ask, would tell, and he would give. “.... Gods, can your tongue go inside me…?!”

He hummed an affirmative, a light sound for all that his voice was fathoms deep as he flicked twice over her clit in response this upstroke. She shivered, a core-deep tremor of need, and he felt the twitches in her pelvis under his fingers, before his mouth. 

He drooled, struggling to give nothing away to her curious attentiveness.

“.... Fuck-it, please put your tongue inside me?!!?”

He immediately reversed his next upstroke, diving down and pushing forward, his nose landing with precision just to the side of her taut nub, and a fresh explosion of her too-incredible scent and taste swamped his senses as her walls flexed around the supple invasion. It was only the tip of his tongue, just an inch or so, but Cosmos, darkness, eternity - 

He could have exploded right then with the taste and feel of her silk-made-flesh clenching around him.

He slammed his eyes open, not even realizing he’d closed them, at her high-pitched whine. He nearly jerked away ( _ did I hurt her?! _ ), but the wide-mouthed smile on her face was unmistakable, even though her head was flung backward into the pillows. He smiled then, panting around his tongue, a keen surge of submissive pleasure thrashing down his spine when she flexed her hips, half-bucking, and whimpered: 

_ “Mo-oore….” _

He unbound the magic slightly, and his tongue lengthened a few inches, slipping, wriggling farther inside her even though he didn’t move his body forward or pull her toward him any more. She keened, her hips beginning to rock up and down, aiding him instinctively by increasing the shifting pressure inside her channel.

“ _ Gods, Ha-ades, more-please-now! _ ”

Another brief flash of power, and another few inches slipped into her body, slightly thicker now without being anywhere near too much. It took more concentration now for him to keep his nose making gently-bumping contact with her clit: she was nearly thrashing, and though he had his arms wrapped over her hips, he refused to pin her down. She was so close, anyway, just a few more moments and she’d explode: there was no doubt in his mind that she would feel anything but pleasure from this, no doubt at all…. He hummed, happy beyond thought to give her such ecstasy, and that was apparently all she needed. 

Her hands were suddenly there, scraping against his scalp as she fisted tightly into his hair, and her thighs slammed together, muffling every sound but his panted breaths as she trapped his head between her legs. The rhythmic pulsing of her walls around the lengthened mass of his tongue was delightful, and he barely kept from whimpering as his cock throbbed: he was achingly close to cumming untouched, his need skyrocketing as he fulfilled his goddess’ desires to her satisfaction.

Her thighs began trembling as her orgasm eased, and he bound back the magic as she relaxed around his skull; his tongue slipped out of her carefully, near-perfect timing so that when she rolled her head forward on a pleasure-loose neck to smile faintly at him, it was back to normal and he could smile at her in turn. He relaxed his arms around her hips, pushing himself back up off the mattress, wincing as the sticky spot he’d left beneath him clung to the tip of his rapidly twitching cock. 

Her eyes darted down his body, and he felt dizzy at the hungry look she flicked back up at him. She panted, licked her lips, and then a raspy, husky, too-seductive-for-sense voice left those wine-dark lips in words he could never have dreamed, not even in his horniest fantasies:

“I wanna taste you now; hold the fuck still….”

She bent nearly double, crawling beneath him and then flipping onto her back. He stared in disbelief at the space she’d been laying on seconds before, and then two warm hands, slender fingers and soft palms, were grasping, tilting, stroking his cock, and warm-wet space captured the tip of him, and it was all he could do in a lust-broken mind to not thrust down, to not collapse and crush her beneath him, under him, she was down there, hands and mouth and - 

He groaned, his stomach tightening suddenly, everything in him too-taut-and-not-tense-enough all at once. The pressure increased that last little fraction as she sucked once, a tentative-yet-demanding pulse of ecstasy, and he couldn’t resist, couldn’t hold back….

He came, broken grunts of release the only sounds possible as the pleasure washed over him in fire-and-ice waves of bliss:

Bliss made all the more beautiful with the warm mouth still latched around the head of his cock, drinking down his release as if she’d done this a thousand times before….

….

His shoulders were twinging when she finally released him as his orgasm faded, but he managed to keep from collapsing until she wriggled and slinkied her way out from beneath him. He plummeted, half-turned on his left side, panting as he curled around his stomach, aftershocks thrashing through him as she crawled into his space, forcing him to accommodate her within the shelter of his fetal position. 

They held each other like that for a timeless while, simply existing, sweat-sticky and bliss-trembly, until she chuckled against his still-heaving chest.

He couldn’t quite find the words to ask, but of course he didn’t need to: she’d always tell him, blunt, honest, trusting, too curious for sense….

“I must have been really worked up, Hades: I could have sworn your tongue was all, like, snakey-long there at the end….”

He snickered, soft-snorting through his nose for the giggles he knew it would earn him from her smiling lips. She tilted her head back, smiling in sheepish half-embarrassment, and he opened his mouth, releasing the magic one more time.

She gasped, lurching backward across the sheets, but not quite breaking away from him.

“The hell?!!? …. Why aren’t you worried I’ll think _that’s_ too weird, huh?! You thought your feet thing was weirder than that?!!???!”

He smiled, retracting his serpentine tongue and smacking his lips for effect. She scoffed out a laugh, waiting for his reply, and he tried for smugly-seductive, but he was still too breathless from his goddess’ many surprises this Sunday afternoon….

“I’m not worried, because I’ve never had a partner who  _ didn’t  _ like it, my dear little minx….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all catch ya breath?
> 
> Me either....
> 
> 2 hours after nearly 3 weeks of stewing on this installment - that's how long it took to write. Am I bragging? Maybe a touch.... But I think I earned it....
> 
> I chose to write this installment from Hades perspective rather than Persephone's because he wanted me to know that he can be a confident subby-top in the right circumstances. After the last chapter, it was pretty clear, but Hades told me he had more to offer. Also, for me - I've mentioned this before - it's not easy for me to write arousal and sensation from the female perspective, but writing the nuances and actual physical actions of a providing partner? That I can do, and do it well. I also have another fic - Honey and Steel - that will NOT afford me any opportunity to avoid writing from the female perspective, so please forgive me if I rely more on Hades to get us through these scenes in the coming weeks....
> 
> Alright - the next chapter needs a little forewarning. I align and bring to your attention that Hades has issues with actual blood-lust: ichor fuels a rather feral need in him, complete with urges and desires that his conscious mind finds rather appalling. 
> 
> In the timeline of Trellis and Vine, Persephone is approaching her menses. This will involve some headspace angst on Hades' part, and some choices on Persephone's part to aid in mitigating that angst. 
> 
> No - Persephone is not going to force Hades, and NO - Hades is not going to force Persephone. 
> 
> But there are some discussions, sequences of events, and eventual resolutions that rely heavily on this next chapter or two. Hence, the next chapter or two may not be everyone's cup of tea. I understand that, and I will be doing my best to structure the following chapters such that anyone who wishes may skip the Menstrual-specific bits in the next chapter/s.
> 
> Additionally, this aspect - Persephone's menses and Hades' blood-lust - will be a recurrent thing down the line (this is the set-up, the eventual resolution will take some time to get to). When we get to the next occurrence, I will provide warnings once more and structure so that anyone who wishes may skip over and pass. 
> 
> Alright, house-keeping out of the way....
> 
> I'm stewing on a couple of companion fics again - one will most likely be associated with the next chapter or two, and has to do with a partner from Hades' past (YAY!). The other deals specifically with the Trellis and Vine motifs of this series, Episode 96 of the comic (Mama), and maybe also some hints of this series' version of Persephone's act of wrath.
> 
> So, lots to look forward to in the coming weeks, and here's we go! Happy Thirsty Thursday!
> 
> -Swoonie and the thirst-muses in my headspace  
> 11 June 2020


	17. Bleed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is your warning and reminder that this chapter deals primarily with Hades' bloodlust during Persephone's first menstrual cycle while they're together. We also have scenes of both Hades and Persephone seeming slightly feral, even territorial and possessive. 
> 
> No one gets hurt, and no one is traumatized; there's a few tense moments, but everything gets resolves to the benefit of our Dread Lovers.
> 
> We also have a little humor, and some awkwards, and a surprise from Hades' past....
> 
> Many thanks ever and on to my beta feesh bestie, rissaleigh49, for her input and suggestions on phrasing and wording of some tricksy passages. (More details for thems as wants them in the end notes.)
> 
> Enter for mild thirst, heavier angst, and deep feels once more....

Persephone bit her lip, trying to muffle the whimpering whine that threatened to slip over her tongue.

_ No, beautiful thing, let me hear you; tell me just how good I make you feel…. _

She gasped, inhibitions flying from her soul as pressure curled decisively against her inner walls, boiling need pooling in her core, demanding her submission to the roiling waves of pleasure beginning to swamp her mind in sparks of lightning.

_ Yes, good, goddess; scream if you must. You’ve made me scream before…. _

The dam burst under the onslaught, moisture and heat seeping into the space between her legs as she twisted, writhing as her core tightened, muscles clamping, cramping - 

Persephone’s eyes flew open, the tightness in her lower abdomen an unwelcome dull ache now.

_ Oh, hells…. Oh… FUCK! _

She shifted her head on the pillow, peeking from the corner of her eye to see Hades, his back turned to her, breathing deeply and steadily. The sheet was low on his waist, and the soft bloom of lust the sight of his muscular, scarred body sent deep into her belly melted together with the tight cramping sensations of her menstrual cycle’s earliest stages in a strange, not-unpleasant way.

_ Blood, though…. I’m bleeding…. Gotta get to the bathroom before he wakes up, need to get cleaned up! _

She folded the sheet carefully off her body, taking care not to waft any cold breezes over Hades’ sleeping form. She drifted into the air and flew into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her without a sound. 

_ Whew…. That snuck up on me that time; guess the stress and all finally decided to stop messing with my cycle. Only a few weeks late, maybe I’ll get back to normal now. But damn, that really fucked up all my plans. I can still order some, but that won’t do anything for me right now…. Maybe there’s some place that has some for pickup, like, we can place a hold…? I’ll ask Hades to help me call around, so he doesn’t feel like I’m hiding this ‘cause I’m scared of him or anything…. _

_ Just get cleaned up and minimize the fallout right now, mmmhmmm…. _

_ …. _

_ Gods, is  _ **_that_ ** _ what a wet dream is like…?! _

* * *

A soft breeze, a shadow passing through darkness would have made more ripples in the air, but something in the chilly air penetrated the quiet calm of sleep and forced hazy flutters through his eyelids. Hades smacked his lips, the sticky taste of dreams binding his tongue, and in the breath he took to whisper Persephone’s name….

_ Ichor…. _

He rocketed out of the bed, landing on the floor silently, a hunter’s crouch and a predator’s lust forcing tension into his body as if he’d been awake for days already. His eyes swept the bed, alighting on the golden streaks marring the darkness of the linen sheets beside where he had lain last night. Without turning his head, he registered, acknowledged, the sound of the faucet running in the bathroom.

It clicked for him then, and he set his jaw as he began stripping the sheets from the bed. He bit back every hiss and growl he longed to loose, swallowed with bitterness every instinct that demanded actions he would never condone, could never take….

_ Just get these into the wash, and figure out how to get through the day…. _

* * *

Persephone opened the bathroom door, her panties feeling thick and poofy with the disposable pad heavy between her legs. She stared at the stripped bed before turning toward the closet. At least she could get dressed the rest of the way while she waited on Hades to come back into the room.

A scuff on the floor behind her, and she turned with a pair of black leggings dangling from her fingertips to see Hades, frozen in the doorway, scarlet ringing his dilated pupils and a desperate clench in his jaw.

_ Oh no, you don’t, my worrywart.  _ “Hades, I could have got the sheets in the wash. I was just trying to get cleaned up so I didn’t mess you up….”

He swallowed thickly, and she couldn’t help but peek at the enormous tent at his half-tied silk robe’s waist. Hades’ voice was tight, so quiet she could barely hear it. “You aren’t messing me up, sweetness; this is my problem, not yours….”

She half-turned back to the chest of drawers inside the closet, pulling out a tank top. She plopped her slacks to the top of the chest and drew the camisole over her head. “I know you think it’s a  _ problem _ , but Hades, I told you before, it’s okay to have desires, needs, urges. I know you won’t hurt me, so please don’t, y’know, punish yourself just because a particular scent or whatnot gives you a hard-on!” She smiled at him as she finally pulled the cloth into place at her hips, and the self-loathing she saw in his eyes made her heart twinge painfully behind her ribs. “Hades…? Hey, talk to me….”

He backed away, and she drifted to a stop; she hadn’t even realized she’d begun moving toward him. His words were still too-quiet, his tone too-bound. “No, Persephone. It is a problem, and it is mine, and I will not let you shoulder blame for it. You have no control over your body’s functions; I do, and I will not let myself entertain any of the….” He ground his teeth together; she could hear the grating sound even over the distance between them. He took a heavy breath, nearly hissing as he dragged in the air, and she watched in mild fascination as his nostrils flared.  _ Gods, he can smell it…. _ “I do not think I can go to work with you today, but neither should you be required to exert yourself in flight when you are menstruating. I can call a car service, and we can meet up at our offices…. What would you like to do?”

She walked backward carefully, reaching for her slacks once more as she approached the dresser in reverse. “Well, there was actually something else I need your help with. So, I only have pads... I'm not really comfortable using tampons... there's the potential for so many health risks, and besides, they can be gross to get rid of. I don't think, based on right now, that pads are going to be a good option going forward. I’ve researched menstrual cups, and I was going to talk to you and order some online soon, but this kinda snuck up on us and fucked that up royally, so…. What I was thinking is there has got to be somewhere that has some in stock, and we could just go buy some today, and see if that doesn’t help this whole situation like I think it will….”

“Menstrual… cups…? What are those…?”

She stared at him for a moment before realizing he was serious. “Um…. Silicone, a cup, goes up inside, like a tampon, but reusable and much less chance of leak or, well, scent….”

His eyes narrowed, a faint light of maybe-hope brightening the shadows behind his scarlet irises. “Those must be new, I’ve never…. Okay, um, pharmacy, maybe, lemme go call around….”

He pulled his phone from a pocket in his robe as he left the bedroom; she thought about calling out to him, telling him they could split the list and make better timing, but it hit her that maybe he physically needed the distance. She couldn’t deny that he was obviously concerned about physically harming her, but it hurt more than the lack of contact she’d grown so used to over the preceding weeks that he seemed to genuinely hate himself for this bloodlust he felt. 

_ …. He probably can’t think straight while it’s all in his face right now. Maybe, once we get the cup, maybe he’ll feel calmer, and we can talk…. _

_ I don’t want him to feel like he can’t  _ **_be_ ** _ with me when I’m on my period. I need to know what he’s done with his other female partners, what the pattern is…. _

_ Okay. That’s a plan. First, eliminate the scent. Second, ask about the past. Third, find a solution for us in the present…. _

_ …. Well, first-first is call Hecate. At least this time, we’re taking off for me! _

* * *

Persephone smoothed her hands over her head as she hip-shot the car-door behind her to close it; she had only convinced Hades that they could in fact ride in the car together with the windows down after pointing out that her current pixie-cut would look  _ fun _ all windswept like it now was.

_ Just didn’t take into account my cowlick here…. _

The one lock of hair over her left eye kept the rest of her hair from settling into place under her palms, but the faint reflection of herself in the hazy storefront windows was still better than she’d expected: not too rumpled, just ruffled enough, and wide-eyed with anticipation as Hades moved around the front of the car and headed for the poster-plastered front door of the shop. The darkly unlit neon sign high on the wall overhead drew her eyes as she approached, and a shiver crawled up her spine. 

_ Wouldn’t Eros be so proud if he could see me now…? _

**_Satyr’s Fancy: Adult Novelties and More_ **

She entered the sex shop with Hades a few feet behind her. His voice was a low thrum, still too-controlled under his need and lust, and it irritated her once more to think that of all the pharmacies, corner stores, and grocery stores in the Underworld, only a sex shop carried “family planning” items like menstrual cups and discs.

“I honestly don’t even know when they changed owners, sweetness, but I promise the man I spoke with sounded legitimate. If he’s in any way not, we’ll see that he loses all credibility for his indiscretion.”

“Hades, I’m sure that won’t be necessary; they know they’re dealing with - ”

“.... My gods, I didn’t believe Jaii when he said….”

Persephone froze as the sky-blue potamoi appeared from a door near the front counter, his eyes locked over her head at Hades behind her. She spun, staring up at Hades’ stricken expression, and the Queen she was in her soul perked up a little.

_ …. Couldn’t be, but…. _

“.... Tollas?!!?”

“Yep! Gods, look at you! You look good, well, of course you do, but damn, I halfway hoped Jaii had been teasing me, but here you are!”

Hades scoffed a little, at a loss for words, and Persephone reached for his hand. His fingers curled loosely into her palm as he managed to peer down at her; the strange mixture of happiness, longing, and embarrassment made it clearer to her than any words ever could.

But of course Hades would answer her unspoken question anyway. “Persephone, this is Tollas; he was one of my partners, hundreds of years back….”

Tollas chuckled softly, scrubbing one hand over the back of his head; his deep-ocean toned hair mussed and tousled under the touch as she looked the potamoi up and down in a thorough, sweeping glance. “Tollas…. Hades, may I have a word?”

Persephone tugged Hades toward the nearest end-cap, ignoring for the moment whatever the items on such prominent display even were. Hades bent to bring his face closer to hers, and she couldn’t even be glad that he seemed to be ignoring the scent of her period-blood, finally….

_ If he hurt you…. _

* * *

“What is it, goddess…?” He was only half-paying attention to Persephone as she took a slow, steadying breath in. Never, in his strangest fever dreams or otherwise, would he have expected to be here, in his usual go-to shop, now owned by an ex-lover and that one’s maybe-lover, hunting for some newfangled contraption for his Queen on a Tuesday morning….

“.... Hades, was Tollas good to you when you were with him…?”

He finally focused, and the lust he’d hardly begun to ignore ratcheted up a dozen notches at the fierce, territorial light in her eyes. He licked his lips, straightening as carefully as he could while her nails nearly gouged rents into the skin of his palm. He nodded, and she immediately relaxed; the traces of her barely-called-up power as Queen of the Underworld faded with her ire, and he nearly growled.

She squeezed his hand a little more gently before pulling away, putting some distance between them, and it took a few harsh breaths before he could move from the glass-bound display, making his unsteady way back toward Tollas, his Queen, and - 

_ Only one of the oldest Naga I’ve ever fucking seen! His tail has got to be twelve feet long if it’s an inch! _

“You mussst be Hadesss…. With permisssion, Majesssty, if the Queen will come with me…?”

Persephone followed the gliding snake-bodied being down the front walk of the store before the pair turned through a doorway and down another hall. Hades glanced at Tollas, fighting down the surge of panic.

“She has to try on some test models to find the right fit; Jaii had the kits already in the bathroom, he’s just showing her the way. It’s a bit of a maze back there, so people don’t, ya know, try before they buy. The test kits are disposable, it’s just so she gets the right size the first time.”

“Ah….”

An awkward silence then, and Hades nearly lost the battle to  _ not _ be the one to break it. Thankfully, Tollas - as always - could not stay quiet for long.

“So, um, you finally found her…?”

“Heh, yeah, you could say that. And you and Jaii….”

“Yeah; what can I say, Hades? I’ve got a type….”

A soft chuckle, and their eyes met.

“.... I’m glad you’re happy, Tollas….”

“Same to you, Hades….”

Tollas’ lover coasted back around the corner, swaying carefully up to the potamoi and drawing the azure being close to his side. Hades took the short opportunity of their gentle embrace to study the naga a little more closely.

Naga, like many other beings, weren’t native to only one region; naga, nymphs, daemons all could be found in varying ecosystems and cultures spanning continents. It appeared that Jaii most likely hailed from one of the more arid climates, based on the sandy color of his scales and the tawny hue of his skin. His long fingers were tipped with shiny ebony nails, filed to points like claws, and they were gentle on Tollas’ waist and face as he bent the potamoi’s head for a kiss. Hades averted his eyes, giving the couple a moment of almost-privacy, barely noting the elegant embroidery on the naga’s open-fronted vest as he ripped his gaze away.

He gave mild attention to a nearby free-standing display of condoms and flavored lubes until Jaii cleared his throat and addressed Hades once more. “If the King would like to exsssplore while we await the Queen, we ssshould not mind….”

“Thank you, Jaii, but I’ll just wait for Persephone. She might be curious and I’d hate to deprive her the opportunity to ask me all sorts of embarrassing questions.”

The naga laughed, a hissing-gasping trill of mirth, and Hades smiled back at the fanged being’s enthusiasm. “Oh, of courssse, Majesssty, absssolutely!”

The three men were still chuckling when Persephone suddenly appeared on Jaii’s other side, smiling broadly with a box tucked under her arm. “Good to know you boys can entertain yourselves in my absence….”

Hades’ worries returned full force as Persephone moved past him, nearly brushing along his side, heading for the stack of wire baskets near the door. She dropped her box into the topmost one, wriggled it free of its fellows and turned back to him. Hades couldn’t hold his breath anymore….

The scent of ichor was gone entirely in the wake of her passing, and Hades couldn’t help but sigh in sheer relief. Persephone cocked an eyebrow at him, and it was almost as if he heard the unspoken exasperation. 

_ I do have good ideas sometimes, Hades…. _

“So, since I’m here, I thought I’d look around. Come with me, Hades…?”

Tollas exploded with laughter, and though Jaii attempted to hide his too-wide grin behind a loose fist, those glittering black eyes were dancing with humor as Hades shrugged and moved up alongside the tiny pink goddess heading down a random aisle for her first exploration of a sex shop’s offerings….

* * *

Persephone pushed her plate away across the table, swiping her lips with her napkin as Hades also leaned back in his chair. She smiled softly at her lover, and hoped she’d be able to convince him to open up to her about the true depths of his worry surrounding her menstrual cycle. 

_ Please don’t hide from me any more…. _

“Hades, I’d like to talk to you, and I’d like you to be honest with me.”

The soft raven of his eyes hardened to obsidian under a cautious wariness, but he nodded, swirling his cider in his glass. “I’ll do my best, sweetness.”

“Thank you…. I’d like you to tell me what you and your female partners have done in the past when they were on their periods….”

“Mmmm….” He swallowed a sip of cider before answering. “They stayed elsewhere for those days.”

She stared at him for a moment. “That’s it…?!”

“Yes.”

“.... Okay, well, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know. I don’t think I could stand asking that of you. That’s part of why I was so conflicted earlier, but I think those cups could work, sweetness. If I’m not exposed to the scent…. Well, it’s just easier that way.”

“Okay, my next question then: what desires, what urges do you feel when you smell ichor, Hades…?”

“No.”

“No…?”

“I won’t talk about this…. I refuse to give these…. I refuse to allow this any power over me, over us. It doesn’t bear speaking of, not in the slightest.”

“.... I’ve told you before, I need the whole Hades package. Have you even talked about this with Voulos…?”

“No, and I won’t with you….” He buried his face behind his long fingers, lowering his glass of cider carefully to the tabletop with his other hand. “I don’t want you to think….” 

Persephone stood from her chair, walking slowly around the table until she could touch Hades’ shuddering shoulder. He tensed even further under her fingertips, and she lowered the tone of her voice to an authoritative purr as she began to speak, the Queen inside her soul leading her with fiery eyes and possessive need to the words that would bridge this chasm of fear and self-hate. 

“I won’t push any further than this, Hades, but I need you to know that I want to help you overcome your own fears, just as much as you need to help me find my power in your bed. You’ve done that for me, and yet you will hardly let me into your own traumas and fears…. I could never think you a monster, Hades, if that’s what you’re afraid of. I’ve seen the extent of your power; I like you that way, remember…?” She kissed the swirl of hair at his temple, wrapped both arms around his neck and lowered her body to his lap. “So, when you’re ready to tell me, I’m all ears, and we’ll move forward in whatever way that we can find that works best for us, no matter what anyone else might think or say, alright…?”

He pulled his hand from his face, staring down the length of his torso to where her thighs met his abdomen. He spread his fingers tenderly, carefully over her leg. Even though their faces were mere inches apart, she still had trouble hearing him when he finally whispered his reply.

“.... When I smell it, I…. I want to…. Gods, I want to taste, I want to just bury my face down there and….” She couldn’t quite keep her gasp contained at the surge of arousal and shock that flashed through her body and mind, but it seemed the floodgates were open now, and her King forged on, revealing with tightly-drawn brows and haunted voice his more feral desires. “I know it’s probably the grossest, most disgusting thing anyone’s ever even suggested to their lover, to literally eat their menstrual blood, but that’s what I feel like would be the only thing that would stop this… hunger, it’s a damn hunger, and it scares me; I can’t even think straight when I smell it, I just  _ want _ , and it scares me to think that I wouldn’t listen, that I might not be able to stop….” His head fell slowly forward as he breathed in, dragging the air through his tight-clenched jaw, and he sighed as his forehead came to rest on her shoulder. “I could never forgive myself if I couldn’t listen to my partner while I was  _ supposed _ to be pleasuring them, but I know how I get, like I was with Apollo, so…. It’s just safer not to even consider it, to never entertain the possibility, sweetness….”

Persephone pulled Hades closer to her, tightening her embrace around his neck as his voice broke, as dampness made itself known on the shoulder of her scoop-neck t-shirt. She fought past the lump in her throat to answer her lover’s concerns. “Hades, thank you for opening up to me. You are not gross, you are not  _ wrong _ for having this desire, and I need you to know that, deep,  _ deep _ down in your soul, lover…. I agree, it’s safer to not explore that anytime soon, but for my own curiosity, Hades, I’m going to do some research over the next few months.” He tensed, and she brought one hand up to pet over the back of his head. “Not  _ with _ you, honey: I more meant actual research, like, looking things up, getting the book learning out of the way so I could make that decision with as much information as possible. ‘Cause, see, Hades: we’ll be together for a very, very long time, and if there’s any chance that I could be that for you, could fill that need for you, I want to be able to do that when you’re ready…. But not anytime soon, I promise, lover….”

Hades sniffled and turned his head so his lips met her neck, a soft, hesitant kiss marking her skin in damp fire. “I can’t stop you from researching, but…. Goddess, I don’t know if I could ever…. It’s too risky, but I’m so grateful you’re just as understanding as you always are…. I’ve never…. I couldn’t tell anyone; I just couldn’t….”

“That’s okay, lover; thank you for trusting me again….”

Hades pulled away slightly, not breaking her embrace around his neck but bringing their faces together and cocking his eyebrow up at her with a smirk. “Lover…?”

“.... Oh! Yeah, apparently, I guess….”

“.... I like that…. You sound very mature when you call me your  _ lover _ ….”

She smiled, darting her head forward and pecking a kiss on the tip of his nose. “I could always stand to sound more mature, huh…? Hey, lover, I…. I’d like to share something with you, too, something that adds into the whole Persephone package for you….”

“Oh…? What secrets has my minx been keeping from me…?” His eyes sparkled, taking strength from her refusal to linger on his revelation. She took a deep breath, saw the seriousness of her face beginning to be mirrored in the lowering of his brows.

“The secret of why the mortals changed my name, Hades: how I became the  _ bringer of death _ ….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... Forgive me the cliffhanger, dears. There's reasons. 
> 
> First - the passage where Persephone tells Hades about why she wants to find menstrual cups - I initially had the wording of her dialogue a little more concise, a little more .... flippant? Rissa pointed out to me that it might be better for Persephone to be a little more ... understanding of others' choices of menstrual products, and I basically took her suggested phrasings word for word. Thank you, my dear. 
> 
> I may or may not come back to this single point down the line. Basically, the Muses wanted me to make it clear that - while P was growing up and maturing with Demeter in the Mortal Realm, she obviously would NOT be using "modern" disposable fem-hygiene products - rather, she'd use something more archaic, which would in style be more like a pad but function more like a "diaper." When she moved in with Artemis in Olympus, much like Arti did for her for the Panathenaea, Arti would introduce her to modern solutions. However, Arti, poor repressed critter that she is, might be entirely opposed to tampons as they "penetrate" the body. Hence, Persephone being slightly biased against tampons, but not intolerant of them for others - just herself. 
> 
> Sorry, turned into a long-winded ramble there, my apologies. 
> 
> Back to the cliffhanger....
> 
> The next chapter is strictly a flashback, and the chapter that follows that will come back to Hades and Persephone in their home for the aftermath of that revelation.
> 
> My Muses and I had thoughts back in late April about what Persephone's act of wrath would look like in Trellis and Vine; I was understandably as shocked as the rest of us when we got the season 1 finale episode from Rachel, and BAM MERRY BLOODY FUKKEN CHRISTMAS....
> 
> There will be a few similarities in the way this particular rendition of that scenario occurs, but I just wanted to be clear that my ideas began stewing a few weeks before the finale - and also, I wanted to warn y'all that we've got mega drama-trauma in the next chapter....
> 
> It will be possible to skip chapter 18 if needed for your mental health, dear readers. I will provide micro-summary in the beginning of chapter 19 for anyone who needs to avoid P's act of wrath again.
> 
> That choice is always yours.
> 
> This has been Bleed.
> 
> Next will be Blood....


	18. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, and please take heed.
> 
> This chapter deals solely and specifically with Persephone's Act of Wrath. 
> 
> Hence, this chapter depicts mortal deaths, albeit in a somewhat dissociated manner.
> 
> There is blood, and there is pain. 
> 
> This chapter can be skipped if it would harm your headspace and soul to read these scenes. I will provide a brief summary of the essential components in the front notes of Chapter 19 to facilitate your continued enjoyment of this fic if you must needs skip this chapter. 
> 
> This chapter is also much shorter than the rest: due to the content, I wanted it to be entirely separate, rather than a scene embedded in another chapter. 
> 
> Pardon the short-form, and tread the dark with me once more as you choose, little ones....
> 
> (My thanks once more to rissaleigh49 for her assistance as beta; the long-form dialogue of this opening scene needed a little help, and it wouldn't be as it is now without my beta-feesh. Thank you, dearest rissa.)

Kore tilted her head back, letting the breeze play through the loose strands of her hair that hung down around her ears; the humidity had tightened the bun behind her head, and the resulting headache was getting close to the point of unbearable. She closed her eyes, the murky scent of moistened plowland and dusty barley stalks thick in her nostrils, and wished the autumn day were closer to dusk….

“Little-bean…?” 

_ Oh, great….  _ “Hello, Mother….”

“Well now, if this isn’t a  _ lovely _ spot!” Demeter sighed and lowered herself to the slope of the hill beside Kore; the goddess’ grass-green fingers flicked over the many layers of linen draping around her tall frame, and Kore suppressed a grumble of jealousy over her seemingly already maxed-out height. “So, Kore, I know we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on the whole, you know, university housing issue. I just want you to know that I am only concerned for your safety, little bean….”

Kore bit off her sigh, a strange irritation that was becoming all too familiar in recent weeks making itself known in the back of her throat once again. “I know, Mother, but I’m not a little girl anymore, and even  _ little beans _ eventually need to be transplanted if they’re going to thrive!”

“.... Well, first, little beans need to be tempered from the greenhouse to the harsher climates in the wide open….”

“Mother, you can’t keep me here forever!”

“Kore, humor your mother for just a moment! I’m trying to propose a compromise…!” Kore loosened her fists in the plush grass of the hillside overlooking a corner of the barley fields.  _ Easy, Kore; there’s a hint of freedom here if you don’t mess it up…. _ “Okay…. There are a few things I need to tend to, but it’s going to require me being gone for a couple of nights. Here is my proposal - if you can stay here and manage the fields for me while I’m gone, keep out of trouble, and obey the usual rules…. Then I do believe I could be persuaded to consider something like what Artemis had suggested….”

“.... You mean, the nymphs are still going to be watching me and reporting to you as soon as you get back….”

“Kore, don’t sound so bitter! We women need to look after each other, after all; Cosmos knows men have little enough kindness for us when they no longer want something from us. I have the nymphs watching over you on my behalf for your own safety, and yes, they will let me know how things went; but, this time, while you are responsible for the fields and our home gardens…. This time, they will not be assigned to accompany you everywhere you go. You’ll have a little more freedom to move about, to do the tasks I usually handle,” she said slowly, locking eyes with her daughter in an attempt to convey her seriousness on the matter. “Provided you do not abuse this privilege, we will talk more when I return. How does that sound…?”

Kore stared at her mother’s brilliant smile and felt a similar beaming grin split her own face in a heartbeat. “ _ Thank you, Mama! _ ” She threw herself into Demeter’s embrace, and her heart took wing on the fitful breezes of promised freedom….

* * *

Kore danced along the border of the field, the clods of earth cool and warm by turns beneath her feet as she spun and skipped and dashed over the soil. The barley stalks whispered softly as the breeze caressed their slender spines, kissed their elegant leaves and nodding heads of seeds. The wind sputtered, fading, and then returned, pushing insistently at Kore’s peplos, forcing the gauzy fabric to mold coldly to her humid-sticky skin. 

A hint of winter in that arrogant breeze, of cold rains and blazing hearths, sap sluggish in trunk and root while the animals huddled together and mortals sheltered within mud-packed walls….

Kore’s feet lifted from the soil, the wind catching her, and something else inside her soul aided her dancing as the air flowed around her body.

_ I’m doing it! I’m finally flyi-  _

“Miss Kore, come quick!”

Hyperia stumbled on a hummock of soil, and Kore felt her ankle twinge as she landed - hard - on the ground.  _ But I was flying! What could be so important?!  _ “What is it, Hyperia…?” Kore was proud that her voice was calm, steady, without a trace of that strange irritation coloring her words as her hands found the fuchsia nymph’s shoulders. 

“They’re taking everything, leaving nothing for the fallowing, in the far field! They even cleared the truck plots, of every gourd and bean!”

“They, who they?!”

“Mortals, from the mainland; I’ve never seen them before, I don’t think they’re from any of your mother’s patron villages!”

Kore’s eyebrows tightened and she felt a spark of power thread its way down her spine. She nodded once, a grim set in her jaw, and Hyperia led her back over the way from which the nymph had come, racing the wind around the fringes of the field….

The flatland of the main plateau gave way a few breathless minutes later, the field sloping down and rolling away toward the sea in the middle distance. To Kore and Hyperia’s left, the carefully tended fields of barley and rye and oat followed the plunge of the earth beneath their roots until, in an abrupt and ragged line a few hundred feet down the hill, a scourge of early and unplanned harvest had left its scars. The stubble was ragged, no shredded leaves and padding of chaff left behind to soften the harshness, to keep the soil from washing away in the coming winter rains, to rot and give back to the earth what had been taken all season long. The bared earth was visibly drying under the afternoon’s light, a dulling grey replacing the healthy brown of sheltered, fertile soil.

And more than the pure physical damage, Kore felt the soul-kind pain of a field harvested before its time, without the blessing of the Goddess who had plowed, tilled, planted, nurtured each inch of that ground….

These mortals would pay for that dishonor….

Hyperia tugged gently on Kore’s peplos near her waist-sash, drawing the young goddess’ eye with a trembling finger. The truck gardens to the south were similarly pillaged, more taken than should have been, and far too soon. The plants were trampled, huddling and broken, their life-gifts torn away without care, without respect or gratitude….

These mortals would pay for their mistakes….

The boats were loaded down with pillaged plunder, and the mortals stood upon the sand, shouting and gesturing wildly with dirt-stained hands in each others’ faces. Their voices were faint with the distance, the wind carrying their angry words out over the starry-shiny waves of briny water….

Kore left Hyperia upon the hill and floated to the middle of the demolished field. 

The ragged stubble left behind by poorly sharpened blades pricked the soles of her feet; she did not bleed, but she wished she could. The gouges left in the soil by untrained motions and uncaring desperation obliterated the rows and trenches that had been cultivated for years into the perfect seedbed, spring after spring; she could not weep, but she would make them scream.

Life would pay for these deaths, and death would fuel new life.

She knelt in the scarred soil and drove her hands into the torn skin of the earth. Lights flared in her mind, each a spark of energy, each hers for the commanding.

The armies of barley and rye and oat behind her she ignored; the arrogant sparks on the sand, she drained.

Her eyes closed as the Life coursed through the soil, racing up the sloping hillside to her hands in the plundered field of sorrows. She directed each droplet to the roots of each raped stalk, and smiled in victory as each and every green-song voice that had been destroyed began to sing once more. She pushed the last few trickles toward the truck gardens, restoring the health of each eggplant bush and longbean vine and the wide-spread canopies of gourds and melons. 

She opened her eyes as her hands left the soil, the knee-high-to-her barley and rye and oats swishing against the hems of her peplos as she staggered to her feet. 

The blood coated her hands, and the tears that fell from her eyes were as red as the sunset’s light over the waves….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breathe, little ones. Here's some tissues, some smelling salts, whatever you need. Yogurt? Here ya go.... Yes, it is strawberry today, good nose!
> 
> .....
> 
> I mentioned in the previous chapter's end notes that I had already begun working on this scene before the Season 1 finale episode went live. I redirect your attention to the note most of us fic-writers have been using for a while now - that any similarities to Rachel's canon are due to the source material - the Greek myths and lore - and careful attention to and enthusiastic consumption of Rachel's work. 
> 
> I wanted to work in the Lady of Sorrows imagery - the white gown, red-dripping hands, and tears of blood. 
> 
> I also wanted to set up more of Kore's (now Persephone's) Life-senses and fertile powers as we get deeper into Dread Curiosities. 
> 
> You may recall that Hades asked himself a while back whether Persephone might prefer to train with her budding and blossoming powers under himself or Hecate. You may also recall that her new role as Queen has a very specific project taking place right now - organizing and revamping the Shade Archives. 
> 
> Things are beginning to come together as the Queen reveals her past; the plot is beginning to forge itself to iron, and I follow where my Muses lead me. 
> 
> ....
> 
> All of that is a really melodramatic way of saying that the next chapters will attempt to balance further bedroom shenanigans with the necessary plot of Persephone's growing power as the Queen of the Underworld. There are still old bridges to reconnect, new paths to tread, and more discoveries to reap. 
> 
> I would like to also thank you all for helping Wick'd get to 7095 hits at the time of this upload, and Dread ain't far behind with 6455 hits. I've begun tracking hits from time of upload as a way to gauge y'all's interest and give myself much-needed confidence boosts, and I'm happy to say that the previous two chapters of Dread got more than 250 hits in the first 24 hours - each. Additionally, it seems like there are more than 400 of you that read each update within the first 3 to 4 days. 
> 
> If I could thank each one of you personally, I would. As it is, I can only offer a Swoonie's mass gratitude by way of imaginary headspace yogurt....
> 
> This one's to you, my darklings and little ones....
> 
> *raises dish of freezing yogurt*
> 
> Farewell for the night....
> 
> \- Swoonie/Erebus (who can tell the difference anymore...?)   
> 23 June 2020 10pm cst


	19. King's Desire and Queen's Ire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... Little ones, it has been a while, hasn't it...? Many apologies, but we hope this will be worth the absence....
> 
> Warnings and mentions for themes and instances within of:
> 
> References to and summary of past acts of wrath  
> Discussions of investigating cover-ups  
> Emotional upset surrounding terrible actions of a close family member (Artemis re: Apollo)  
> Duality of mind in a non-human character (Persephone's Queen-self/normal-self)  
> Stun, shock, and unintended lust (Hades, of course)  
> Mild hints of Hades' T&V-established foot fetish and Persephone teasing that intentionally  
> Fertility goddess powers manifesting more and more frequently and intensely  
> Initial mental considerations of self-pleasuring for the first time (Persephone)  
> Oblivious character "walking in" on another character masturbating and realizing NOTHING (he-he-he)
> 
> .... Things are happening, and here. we. go....
> 
> Many appreciations go to my betafeeshy, rissaleigh49, for her insights and assistance. You da behst, feeshy-mine....

Summary of previous chapter for any who skipped - 

In the fall before Kore moved to Olympus, Demeter and Kore came to an agreement - Demeter had some things to tend to off-Sicily, and Kore would be left in Demeter’s place to tend the fields in her absence. The nymphs would give her a little more space, though would still report to Demeter when she returned, and provided Kore did well, Mother and Daughter would discuss the University Housing Issue when Demeter returned. 

Kore nearly flew for the first time in a gusting autumn breeze, and then a nymph came, panicking, to tell her of a group of unknown mortals pillaging a far field of everything near-ripe. 

Kore saw the damage done, and took vengeance for the raped barley, oat, and rye, the demolished beans and eggplants and gourds. With her hands in the soil, she felt the Life of everything around, and drew the Life from those thieving mortals, using it to replenish the damaged and early-harvested plants. 

And now, we return to the Underworld on a Tuesday afternoon, where the Bringer of Death and Keeper of Souls sit on a black-leather couch and breathe….

* * *

Hades stared at the rain streaking the windowpanes framing the television, an odd hollowness numbing his eardrums and only one thought in his mind:

_ …. Queen, my Queen, my Queen…. _

Persephone’s hand twisted around his own, and his head tilted to bring the image into his vision: pink fingers, slender and deft, perfectly small and strong against his palm.

“Hades…?”

He swallowed, and the numbness of a soul-deep knowledge that she was even more his perfect match than he had thought before faded beneath a warmth he’d never felt, something ichor-strong and heady as wine. “Thank you for, uh, trusting me.” His thumb stroked over the back of her hand, her skin so soft beneath the smallest of his scars there on the pad of his finger, and he smiled carefully at her, blinking slowly and loving how she blushed at the image he presented with his hair falling over his eyes.

_ Easier than ever now, to tease, to want…. She would always have come to me…. _

And though he was aroused, the bulge in his pants hot over the apex of his thighs, the clarity her story had painted for him also highlighted the fences of her boundaries and his: she was no stranger to things taken before their time, and the actions taken after such traumas had always been and would always be hers to initiate. 

“.... You’re not…. You’re not mad at me for, um, killing all those mortals without a permit…?”

“Why would I be? They deserved it, and it was your responsibility to enact that vengeance…. Oh, wait a minute….” She swallowed drily, but he was able to ignore the cuteness of her bobbing throat and the way she bit her lip as he continued speaking. “That is what you meant by ‘ _ trying to distance myself from acts of wrath’ _ , isn’t it…?”

She nodded, swallowing again. “Yep….” Her voice was whisper-thin and snowflake-soft, and he chuckled.

“Well, little goddess, act of wrath though it may be, it was thoroughly deserved from where I stand…. Although….”

“What?”

“.... When was this? You said the fall?”

Persephone pulled her fingers from his, and he let the warmth of her hand fade from his palm as she tapped her black-painted nails on her knee. “Yeah, three weeks after the equinox.”

Hades unlocked his phone and pulled up the main shade intake database file, narrowing the query to the timeframe Persephone had specified. “Hmmmm…. I’m not seeing any flagged intakes from Sicily, no unexpected spikes or anything that would have pinged in our system. Are you sure about the date?”

Her eyes flashed red, and a heavy surge of lust shot through Hades’ veins at the sight. “I am absolutely certain, Aidoneus; I could never forget the day I killed nearly fifty mortals in three minutes….”

Hades swallowed down the drool that was flooding his mouth and flattened a hand over his erection. “I didn’t mean to offend, goddess….” 

Her crimson eyes shifted to the hand on his crotch, and his phone case creaked as he tightened his grip when she reached her fingers for his own. The scarlet of her sclera faded and she clicked her tongue behind her teeth, mimicking his mannerisms and forcing a blush to heat his cheeks. “I’ve asked you before, Hades: please don’t hurt yourself for having desires….” She pried his fingers from his bulge and replaced them with her own, simply resting her hand on his trapped shaft. “Do you need to take care of this before we figure out what happened, why the deaths I brought that day aren’t recorded…?”

He swallowed again, his cock twitching heartily beneath her palm. “No, I…. I am more than the whims of my flesh, goddess. I would like to ignore this, please.”

Her eyes narrowed at him, but she removed her hand from his crotch and settled back onto the couch. “Alright, I can respect that.”

Hades gulped once more and turned his attention back to his phone. The database’s lines wavered as his pulse thundered behind his eyes, but he was able to read the entries after a few moments of patient quiet from his Queen. “As I was saying, I don’t see any intakes of that caliber from Sicily for that time frame…. Although….” Hades finally gave in and pulled his glasses from his breast pocket, flicking them open and settling them on his nose as he perused another sheet in the file. “Hmmm, strange…. Hermes doesn’t usually reap ghosts, but in the weeks following your Wrath, he logged ghost retrievals from some of the mainland bays and harbors close to Sicily. That doesn’t make any sense….”

“Wait, Hermes? Ghosts? You mean  _ shades _ …?”

Hades peered over his glasses at Persephone, chuckling quietly at the blush that flooded her cheeks.  _ Yep, still got it, old man…. _ “Ghosts are what we call shades that weren’t retrieved within the first couple of days after their bodies died. They become bound to the ground they lived or died on, or an object or person that was dear to them in life. Hermes hasn’t quite been a psychopomp long enough to be assigned to ghost reaping; we usually have Thanatos handle those when he can, but it takes a lot out of him. That, at least, I believe him on when he says he can’t take extra shifts. Ghost reapings can get… well, they can get hairy fast.” Returning his attention to the glowing screen in his hand, he began tallying the numbers as he continued in a low murmur. “But what concerns me, even more than that it was Hermes reaping these, is the locations don’t seem to match up…. Even if the numbers do…. I count 47 ghosts Hermes reaped and brought into Acheron, beginning 3 days after your Wrath, until just after the winter solstice….”

Persephone panted, and Hades was nearly positive it wasn’t arousal that had her pupils wide in their living room. “Hades, Mama summoned Hermes as soon as she got back and found out what I’d done….”

Hades bit off a curse.  _ Of course, Demeter would think she needed to handle the situation…. _ “Sweetness, you know I won’t do anything without talking to you, but we need to figure out what exactly Hermes did to the records, because this is fucking with my entire operation.”

“You gave me control of organizing the Archives. Wouldn’t handling this discrepancy fall under my jurisdiction now…?”

Hades chuckled, bowing his head carefully in deference to his Queen. “As you say, Goddess. I will leave this investigation in your more than capable hands….”

_ …. What a Queen I have…. _

* * *

_ Thursday morning _

Persephone sat on the toilet, swiping her fingers off on a fresh wet wipe. The silicone inside her vagina left her feeling… not quite  _ full _ , but she was surprised at the odd pleasure that came from feeling her muscles molding around the shell of her menstrual cup. 

Her eyes drifted to the thick black towel on the side of the sink, to the dildo and slim, basic-model plastic vibrator drying there after the thorough cleaning Hades had given them this morning. They’d played a little bit last night - she hadn’t wanted to wait until her period was entirely done for another of those delightful soul-gasms - and though Hades had insisted he could wait, she’d been  _ quite  _ persuasive in pursuit of her goals. 

_ Maybe I was feeling a little bit more than dominant last night; I mean, I did manage to track down exactly what records Hermes messed with, and boy, that was fun, seeing how much Hades wanted me when I fixed all of that so easily.  _

_ This Queen thing: it’s fucking fun! _

Her hands trailed over the nubbin-textured surface of the dildo, feeling the way the rubber dragged slightly under her skin. She wrapped her fingers around the tip, noting how easily her digits encircled the thing. 

The image popped into her mind then, the one she’d been trying to forget about since they got home from the sex shop two days before: the opened box from her newly acquired menstrual cups, face-up in the garbage pail, the size label in the corner confirming her suspicions. 

_ …. I should be big enough; I take the largest cup size, for crying out loud…. _

_ …. I should be big enough for him…. _

A flash of heat flooded her groin, tight and wanting and needful as hunger. She gasped softly, meeting her reflection’s eyes. She watched as her mirror-image shifted, the whites of her eyes turning crimson, the angles of her cheekbones sharpening to devilish charm, and a few of her teeth narrowing to pointed fangs. 

_ We sure are big enough for him, aren’t we, Beautiful Dread…? _

Persephone smiled at her reflection, and the heat in her core steadied into a low thrum of desire. 

_ …. I want to make sure we do this right, though. I don’t want him to panic, like he does sometimes; that’ll make it harder for me…. _

_ …. _

_ Well, they say practice makes perfect…. _

_ …. _

_ And my man has a lot of toys…. _

* * *

Hades stood beside the door into the garage, Pomelia panting happily in his palm as they waited for Persephone to be ready to leave for work. Cerberus walked a few steps down the hall, his nails clacking, and gave a single huffing  _ woof _ into the dimness. 

Persephone’s voice was faint but growing steadily louder as she apparently was already making her way from the back of the house. “I hear you, good boy; I’m coming, sorry, didn’t mean to keep the Prince waiting. I suppose your Daddy is ready to go, too, huh…?” Cerberus bounded back to Hades, nearly knocking the King’s legs out from under him as he shoved behind and into the garage.

Or maybe that was just the way Persephone stopped his heart as she rounded the corner from the hall. 

Her hair fell in thick waves to just past her shoulders today, and a wire-stranded net of gemstones sparkled atop her head, binding the strands away from her forehead and eyes. Her lashes were darkened and lengthened just slightly with a light application of mascara, and two simple dots of a sparkling gel shadow in chromium brightness marked the outer corners of her eyes, delicate and whimsical as they were hidden and revealed behind every sweep of her lashes. Her lips were dark with a plum-colored stain, and a pair of simple shimmering studs were clipped to her earlobes. A spreading necklace that matched the hair-net covered her collarbones, nearly filling the sweeping neckline of her dress. 

The silky fabric clung to her curves like a river of midnight, and though Hades had to admit his Queen was beautiful in every moment and any outfit - 

_ She was  _ **_made_ ** _ to wear black…. _

She paused in the doorway, shifting her weight to her left leg and accentuating her curves with a hand on her cocked hip. She extended her right leg, pointing her toes and showcasing the elegant and strappy jet pump she’d chosen. “Well, Majesty…?”

Hades barely managed a single, shaky nod. He knew his voice would fail him if he even attempted to speak, so he simply blushed and stepped to the side, sweeping his free hand toward the garage door. Persephone giggled smugly and moved past him, trailing her fingers along his waist before she scooped Pomelia from his palm. 

_ This minx is going to be the death of me…. _

* * *

_ Thursday afternoon _

Artemis blew her nose into a fresh napkin before hurling the soiled paper toward the bin with a grunt of effort. She smashed the channel-recall button on the remote, whimpering when that one was still on some stupid commercial, too. 

_ Stupid idiot…. Stupid, idiotic, imbecilic  _ **_MORON!!!_ **

The remote cracked as she lost control, the plastic fracturing in her Olympian grip. One of the fissures bit down on the skin between her thumb and forefinger, and she hissed, tears flooding up again from some well in her soul that should have already been exhausted.

_ Almost two weeks, Artemis…. If she wanted to talk to you, she’d have contacted you by now…. _

_ And you don’t even deserve it…. _

_ You failed her…. _

_ YOU, protector of maidens! YOU, the Huntress of men who don’t deserve respect! _

_ And you couldn’t even see that your own brother…. _

The violet goddess flung herself along the couch, burying her face in the throw pillow that should probably have been washed by now after all the times she’d bawled into the scratchy surface since her friend….

_ …. The hell are you doing, Artemis!?! Get a grip! _

She sat back up, biting her lip until it stung to keep from crying.

_ Just get your head back on straight. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready. You don’t deserve it, but she’s always been better than you…. _

_ She’ll forgive you; you just need to wait for her to -  _

Something huge crashed against the central window of her living room, and Artemis shrieked, her voice cracking, nerves shot. It took far too long for her to reach for the side-table’s drawer and the knife hidden there for just such scenarios, and by that point, a crimson hand, large and soft, was around her bony wrist, stopping her from defending herself. 

The Huntress of Olympus flailed, flapping her hands in desperate fear, and the only thought she could latch onto was:

_ Is this how she felt, helpless, trapped…?! _

“Arti, easy, hey! Easy, hon!”

The unfamiliar haze of panic faded, and Artemis blinked her salt-gritty eyes at Hermes’ worried-tense eyebrows.

“.... Hermes…?”

“There ya go, hon. Just breathe, okay…?”

Hermes settled onto the couch beside her, half-holding her in a side-arm embrace, and though she stiffened, she leaned when he did, reclining back into the cushions and flinging his winged hi-tops onto her coffee table’s smudged glass surface.

“.... Getchurfeetoffmytable….”

“Oh, my, so very grumpy!” The jerk laughed, but pinched her ribs with a teasing tweak. “Get it all out of your system now, because you’ve got places to go, and trust me: you don’t wanna be so grumbly when you get there….”

“.... What are you talking about, you crazy goon…?”

“This….” Hermes whipped an onyx card, holographic and shimmering in her living room’s brilliant lighting, from his left pocket, holding it out in front of them both and tilting it so the text was visible in waves.

_ The presence of Artemis,  _ _   
_ _ Goddess of the Moon and Protector of Maidens _ _   
_ _ is requested at a hearing: _ _   
_ _ Location:  _ _   
_ _ Underworld Corps, Tower One, Level 99, Queen’s Suite _ _   
_ _ Time: 4:30 p.m. _ _   
_ _ Escort Assigned:  _ _   
_ _ Hermes, Psychopomp and God of Travelers _ _   
_ _ Authorization Granted By: _ _   
_ _ Persephone _ _   
_ _ Queen of The Underworld Realm _ _   
_ _ Goddess of Spring _

Artemis stared at the card, and then shakily turned her head to Hermes. His face was as serious as she’d ever seen it, and her heart sank.

_ …. Oh gods…. _

_ I’m dead…. _

* * *

_ Thursday afternoon, 4:30 p.m. _

The hollow tone of her desktop phone alerted her, and she turned from the window wall to press the button on the keypad. “Yes, Atheles?”

“M’lady, the Messenger is here with the Moon’s Goddess.”

“Perfect. Send them through.”

Persephone straightened her crown, making sure it was situated in front of the strands of her gleaming hair net, and turned back to the window again. The door into her office opened with a click, and one pair of nearly skipping footsteps skittered on the stone. Another pair shuffled, hesitant, and Persephone’s reflection shifted slightly, a predator’s grin and haunting eyes marring her features as Artemis entered the Queen’s domain.

She spoke only slightly louder than her normal volume, ensuring her voice remained steady but forcing authority into her tone (another trick she’d noticed both Hades and Hecate used quite often). “Thank you, Hermes. That will be all for today. Go finalize your paperwork, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“On it, boss!” The door clicked again, and Persephone took another breath. She didn’t turn around.

“Artemis, this is your opportunity to explain or say whatever you wish to say. You know what happened to me; you know everything. What do you want to say…?”

Her friend’s voice was rough, broken: it was obvious the goddess had been crying for hours, if not days. A part of Persephone felt badly for not reaching out sooner; the Queen in her soul snarled in excitement at the woman’s torment, a hunter scenting blood on the wind….

“I’m sorry I didn’t…. Persephone, I swore to protect you, and then my own…! Gods, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!!!” 

Persephone barely masked a wince as she heard Artemis collapse to the floor, gut-wrenching sobs distorting anything the dark-haired goddess might have still been trying to say.

The Queen of the Underworld was satisfied: there was no lie in this broken woman’s anguish, and her sorrow was as genuine as life. Persephone turned around, walking carefully around her desk and kneeling beside her friend.

“Arti, I forgive you. I know you didn’t know what he had done; I just wish you had been a little more… observant, about how uncomfortable I was around him…. It’s done; I’m where I’m supposed to be, and if you want me, I still want to be your friend, even if I can’t be your roommate anymore….”

Artemis looked at Persephone through tangled hair and swollen eyelids, and something strummed a chord in Persephone’s soul.

_ …. Her realm of influence: she’s struggling to find that balance…. This is just like Hades last week…. _

“Persephone, I can’t be your friend anymore! How can I?! I failed you, I didn’t protect you! I…. I’m a failure!”

“Artemis, you can too still be my friend! And you are not a failure!”

“I am! I was supposed to protect you!”

_ Protection…. _

“Arti!” Persephone waited until Artemis’ rambling diatribe of self-loathing faded to sniffling pants for air. “Do you want to make it up to me…?”

“.... Yes, I’ll do anything!”

“I need some new inter-realm boundary-crossing procedures, not quite a complete overhaul of the system, but more in-depth, more detailed entry requirements. I don’t want people with bad intentions being able to cross the borders willy-nilly just because they have a passport. Will you oversee the project…? That’ll be like you’re protecting me, don’t you think?”

_ …. There it is…. _

_ She’ll find herself again, yes she will…. _

_ She just needed a little nudge, a little trellis to climb up again…. _

Persephone smiled, helping Artemis back onto her feet as the distraught goddess began brainstorming valiantly while they moved to the couch and Persephone texted Atheles for tea….

* * *

_ Friday morning, 7:03 a.m. _

Hades squirmed outside the bathroom door, debating the plausibility of making it to the guest bath halfway across the house before his bladder exploded.

_ Maybe the pool room bath? No, nope, not gonna make it that far…. _

He’d woken up just minutes before to the diabolical sound of running water, and he was pretty sure it was only that and not some sudden-onset medical issue that had him dancing like a toddler and all but holding himself….

_ How long has she even been in the shower?! How much  _ **_longer_ ** _?! _

_ …. Fuck it…. _

He knocked, easing the door open slightly. By the way the room was steamed up, he knew Persephone had to have been in the shower for at least twenty minutes already: nearly ten minutes longer than her usual.

“Persephone…?”

She gasped, and the hazy shadow behind the glass of his shower door seemed to straighten slightly. “.... Y-y-yes, Hades…?”

“Um, I really need to use the toilet. I promise I won’t flush, but I just - ”

“Sure-sure, go ahead, I’m almost done!”

“Thanks….”

He darted to the toilet, flinging the seat up and  _ finally _ letting go. 

_ Fuuuuuuck….  _

He finished a few awkward moments later, lowering the seat and lid and moving to the sink. 

“I’ll go start breakfast, alright?”

“Sure, sounds good! I’m definitely hungry!” Her voice was still tight, and Hades mentally kicked himself for possibly scaring her again, just when she was seeming to really start to be comfortable around him with her own nakedness. They’d slept together, naked, for almost a whole week now, and if his bladder had fucked this up….

_ …. Just fuck my immortal life; can’t do anything right…. _

“See you in a few, sweetness.”

“Mmmhmmm!”

Hades closed the bathroom door behind himself, and snarled into the dark of their bedroom as he stalked to the closet and wardrobe. 

_ You. Old. Pervert.  _

_ She’s gonna think you’re creeping on her in the bath…. _

_ You fucking dirty old man, honestly, just couldn’t make it to the pool room, fucking decrepit old geezer…. _

He sighed, thumping his head against the hanging-rod and dragging a hand down the back of his neck. 

_ She’s never gonna want to actually fuck you at this rate…. _

_ Just get used to it; she may never be ready for that…. _

_ …. _

_ At least she seems to actually enjoy fucking  _ **_your_ ** _ ass…. _

The dull ache of being well used a few nights in a row was something he hadn’t thought he’d ever get used to again. It wasn’t fair to Persephone to wish for what he’d said he would wait eternities for when he already had more than he’d ever dreamed….

_ …. Just…. Just trust in what you know. _

_ She loves you. You love her. _

_ She’s meant to be with you. You’re meant to be with her. _

_ She likes fucking you. She’s starting to like you touching her. _

_ She knows you’ll never hurt her.  _

_ She’ll ask, if she’s ever ready. _

_ And then you’ll give her everything you’ve got and show her what making love is supposed to feel like…. _

He snagged a pair of boxers and socks and moved back into the bedroom to get dressed. 

_ Now, first things first: breakfast. Pancakes, eggs…. Some mushrooms with the eggs and berries with the pancakes…. _

_ Wild and sweet, just like my goddess…. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... YEP, WE'RE GETTING THERE!
> 
> So, ahem....
> 
> Part of the reason why this installment was so thoroughly delayed was because....
> 
> This chapter COULD NOT be uploaded until the next was all but ready to go.... Because we (myself and my Muses and all) did not want to leave you all hanging for too terribly long, because the next chapter....
> 
> It's the one you've all been waiting for....
> 
> Persephone reclaims her power in Hades' bed, to the utmost....
> 
> Yep....
> 
> It's time for Persephone and Hades to make love the traditional way....
> 
> It's been done before, in a variety of ways. I hope this rendition will hold up to your Curiosities and Dread Desires....
> 
> Additionally, I have elected to use time-stamps when possible moving forward, since it takes so long sometimes for me to update this fic. This will hopefully help you all out a little more in making sure the fic's timeline is trackable. I will also probably go back and edit previously-uploaded chapters later on, but for now, we'll just ... see how it goes moving onward. Let me know what you think....
> 
> Dread Curiosities Chapter 20 will be uploaded within the next few days (we are waiting on a few final beta eyes, but soon, my dears, very soon)....
> 
> We'll see you in the shadows, little ones....
> 
> -Swoonie and the horny goddesses and Muses in her headspace  
> 10pm cst 25 August 2020 (AO3 says it's 26 Aug, but, whatevs)


	20. Bound to You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. The one you've all been waiting for with bated breath and captive dreams. 
> 
> Warnings and mentions for themes and instances within of:
> 
> Bondage, honor and rope variants  
> Sensory deprivation, or "keep eyes closed"  
> Voyeurism and Exhibitionism  
> Dominance and submission, including commands, praise, Titles, honorifics, and physical restraints  
> Toy-based sensitivity and sensation play  
> First times  
> Multiple position changes  
> Foot fetish  
> Size Kink  
> Consent and frequent checking in  
> Strange-form Intimacy, mainly in soul-gasm
> 
> And Love and Trust....
> 
> So much love and trust....
> 
> This chapter would not have been possible without the honest and blunt and carefully considered feedback of my anonymous survivor source. Their input and notes were beyond compare; there are not enough words to express my appreciation for their trust in me to listen to them and do this right. 
> 
> Thank you from the depths of my soul will have to suffice. 
> 
> My betafeeshy was incredibly thorough and helpful this time around, as well. There was one scene in particular that needed quite a bit of help to avoid any grey areas (further discussion in end notes), as well as overall wording and phrasing notes to ensure things hit right.
> 
> So much love, feeshymine....
> 
> Here we go, my dears. I hope it has been worth the wait.

_ Friday morning, 7:03 a.m. _

Persephone breathed as shallowly as she could, trying to keep her gasping muted under the shower’s pounding spray as Hades entered the bathroom. The toilet lid and seat clunked against the tank, and she twisted her feet on the pebble-textured tiles, trying to squeeze her thighs together tighter.

Surely the buzzing sounds coming from between her legs wouldn’t be audible over the water and Hades’ own desperation….

_ Fuckfuckfuck, hurry up!!! _

She watched with tension-narrowed eyes as Hades’ bulky shadow moved from the toilet toward the sink, hunching over the marble to wash his hands.

“I’ll go start breakfast, alright…?”

Her clit throbbed under the vibrator as her muscles clamped around the thick rubber buried to the hilt inside her body. “Sure, sounds good! I’m definitely hungry!”  _ Just get out of here, gods, I’m going to explode, his voiiiccce…! _

“See you in a few, sweetness.”

“Mmmhmmm!” 

_ Fuuuuuucccccckkkkk! _

The bathroom door closed with a click, and Persephone collapsed against the droplet-slick wall of the shower, her knees trembling and her body spasming as she finally climaxed around the toy inside of her. Her fingers fumbled the rotating dial on the end of the vibrator, turning the buzzing rumble down, down,  _ off _ , and letting it clatter to the shower floor. 

_ …. Holy shit…. _

She panted heavily for a few moments, turning her head so the shower’s spray soaked her hair instead of her face as she fought for air. She twitched intermittently as strange flashes of pleasure zinged through her long after the violent clenching-and-releasing had eased. 

_ …. Okay, Persephone, let’s take a look…. _

She spread her legs carefully, making sure the water streaming down from behind her wouldn’t wash over her front as she withdrew the toy from her body. In the steamy clarity of her lover’s enormous shower, she watched the nine-inch long dildo emerge from between her legs, covered in nothing but transparent streaks.

_ No ichor…. I DID IT! _

_ …. There’s nothing stopping me; I’m big enough, and I can have him whenever I want…. _

_ …. Tonight…. I want him tonight…. _

_ ….  _

_ Tonight, he’s mine…. _

* * *

_ Friday morning, 7:36 a.m. _

The last pancake slipped from the skillet to the pile on the platter, and Hades chuckled at the quietly squirming pack of dogs by the end of the counter. “You all just wait a minute; I’ve got yours coming just as soon as Persephone makes it out here. No sense in you eight scarfing down your meal and then begging for more of ours….”

“Don’t make the babies wait any longer, Hades; I’m here!” He spun around, spatula held upright at the ready, freezing at the sight of her statuesque form poised by the kitchen table. Much like yesterday, she was wearing all black, though today it was a sleek business suit and shining leather boots beneath the wide-cut legs. He remembered helping her try those boots in the shop last week: nearly knee-high and fitted the whole way up like a dream. 

“.... Goddess….”

“Hades, the eggs are toasting….” 

He turned back to the stovetop, putting the spatula to work on the eggs.  _ Not burned yet, but just barely…. _ Persephone came up alongside him, the stack of bowls for the dogs in her hands. She spotted the separate plate of pancakes he’d set aside earlier, already nearly cooled, and began ripping them into pieces for each of the eight monsters in his kitchen, who were now whimpering and singing for their breakfasts. 

“Thank you, Persephone.”

“My pleasure, Hades. I like helping you in the kitchen, especially when we’re trying to get these little heathens fed….” He blushed, unable to explain just what it was that had him so… emotional at just the mere sight and sound of her. She continued preparing the dogs’ breakfasts while he finished turning the eggs and shutting off the burner. “I was thinking about going to talk to Hecate today about setting up some training; I’ve been feeling…. Well, I think I’m settled enough with how things are supposed to flow with  _ work _ , that I can give some attention to my powers. I can’t be sure, but I think I’m sensing… something, and I’d like to get out ahead of it before it can sneak up on me. Is that okay? I didn’t know if you would rather train me yourself, if it’s, like, Queen stuff…?”

He cleared his throat, wondering if maybe she’d picked up on just how flustered he’d been around her the last couple of days.  _ Honestly, I feel like a teenager or some shit! _ “I think Hecate would be an acceptable choice to teach you, but if either of you find anything that seems more than just  _ your _ power, anything that might be more on the level of  _ Queen-specific  _ power, come to me, and I’ll see what I can do to help.” He turned the eggs in the pan.  _ Now or never…. _ “I also wondered if you might wish to attend a judgment session sometime next week; there are a few cases that look promising for the new Queen of the Underworld to stand in witness….”

“I’d like that...  _ especially _ if you’ll be wearing mortal garb….” She winked up at him, and his heart fluttered in his chest. Her eyes narrowed, and he felt the flicker of power as ….

_ Fuck…. _

“Hades, um, is that…?”

The black-winged moth fluttered from behind his shoulder, dipping through the air and swooping around Persephone in drunken loops. “Um…. Yeah, I, uh….”

“.... Well, if we aren’t just the perfect pair, huh?!” She burst out laughing, and he couldn’t help but join her. A few of her dainty sunrise-pink and moon-bright butterflies soon joined his ditzy-diving moth, and the dogs began leaping and spinning, chasing the aerial power-drains around the kitchen.

_ This is what I’ve been missing for so long…. _

_ Gods, I love you…. _

* * *

_ Friday afternoon, 2:38 p.m. _

“Hecate, can you help me with something a little… specific…?”

The amber-eyed goddess smiled, her teeth gleaming in the dimmed lights of the gym on a mid-level floor of Tower One. “Yes, of course! Do tell what  _ specific _ you have in mind…?”

“.... I want to use my vines to restrain another being….”

“.... Oooooooh, should I alert the Furies we’re on a hunt?!”

“ _ NO! _ It’s more… protection, almost self-defense, but just in case, kinda, I guess, I mean - ”

“Say no more. Okay, you want more static control then, so you can focus on other things while maintaining the binding…. Let’s try this….”

Persephone smiled as Hecate began laying out the instructions for this newest drill, happy her friend and advisor didn’t seem to have caught on to her ulterior plot.

_ Hades is gonna love this…. _

* * *

_ Friday night, 8:47 p.m. _

Hades gestured at the television with the back of his right hand, grumbling at the spokesperson on the screen. “Five-thousand drachma, my left shoe, what a fuckin’ lowball offer. Maybe five hundred years ago, Jae, you idiot!”

Persephone giggled, tucked beside him on the couch with his arm behind her shoulders and neck, her legs crosswise over his thighs; his own bare feet were propped on the coffee table, and he shifted them a little, placing his left over his right to keep his hips from locking up. “Then what should the offer have been, Your Majesty…?”

“Seven-thousand, and not a copper less, sweetness. That amphora was genuine Muse-craft if ever I saw it, and these  _ appraisers _ : they act like Muse-wares don’t deserve the same valuation just because they’re not made by the Muses’ own hands…. Idiots, elitists, I swear….”

She laughed a little more loudly, squirming up closer against his side. Pomelia yawned from Persephone’s lap, and they both peered down fondly at the tiny dog before their eyes met, just inches apart.

_ …. It never gets old, seeing her like this, loving her like this, feeling her loving me…. _

“Hades, I want to try something new tonight.” Her voice was a husky purr, and he shivered under the dominance of the tone. “You said once before you’ve tried a lot; have you ever been bound, restrained…?”

His stomach clenched, the mere suggestion firing off memories through his mind, and his cock began to throb as everything hidden in the shadows of her voice called to everything in his soul. “Yes, goddess….”

“Would you let me restrain you tonight…?”

“.... Fuck, yes, goddess….” His voice had gone stone-deep with the effort to remain still, to not gather her into his arms and teleport them into his room.  _ I think I have some rope somewhere, should still be in functional shape; cuffs, do I still have those cuffs…?! _

“Thank you, Hades.” She slipped from his lap, placing Pomelia onto the center couch cushion and extending a hand to him. “Come on, then.” 

They left the idiot appraiser on the television blathering on and ran, hand-in-hand, to their bedroom. 

* * *

Persephone tugged on Hades’ hand as they entered the bedroom, slingshotting him toward the bed ahead of her. He went, smiling broadly, miming a stumbling stop at the side of the mattress, facing away from her. She backed up against the door, eyeing his body up and down, biting her lip in the way she knew would have had him on his knees, even though he couldn’t see her. He  _ groaned _ softly when the door latched, his hands clawed and twitching at his sides. 

_ Waiting, for my command…. _

“Strip for me, Hades….”

She watched his hands disappear around that broad chest, his shoulders and upper arms flexing as he carefully ran down the line of buttons. The fabric wrinkled behind his neck, and she sighed in delighted pleasure as he shrugged it off and down his back; the massive planes of cerulean skin and shimmering silver scars were like water in the desert. Her mouth went dry at the sight, at white linen draping lower and lower, revealing broad ribs that tapered to so narrow a waist. The fabric finally loosened enough from his left wrist so that it fell, swaying behind him, the empty sleeve dragging over the floor as he flicked his right hand to let it all fall away entirely. 

And then his hands disappeared again, and she heard the clink of his belt buckle. The waistband of his pants shifted as he loosened the leather in the loops, and then he drew it to the left in a careful, steady drag. The belt clanked and thumped to the floor, and in the intensity of the silence that followed, she realized she wasn’t breathing. 

_ So different tonight; can he feel it…? _

A soft  _ zzzzpppp _ , and his hands appeared at his hips, thumbs cocked behind the waistband’s stiffness and fingers artfully spread, the muscles in his arms standing out in sharp relief.

“.... Down, Hades….”

He obeyed, shoving the fabric down in a steady push. He bent forward, not enough to expose the entirety of his ass to the hidden stars above, but enough that his curves were more than showcased….

_ Mine…. _

Hades stepped out of the puddle of discarded fabric, kicking them away to rest near his crumpled shirt. Persephone realized he hadn’t been wearing boxers; she wondered when he’d ditched them, because she  _ knew _ he’d worn a pair that morning. He’d left his boxer drawer open in the closet, for crying out loud! 

_ No matter…. _

The King straightened to his full height once more, a deep inhale swelling his ribs and accentuating the leanness of his waist. His head turned just slightly to the right, and Persephone could see the slight looseness of his jaw: he wasn’t far from panting, already.

“Thank you, Hades. Climb onto the bed, all the way up, and then lay down on your back.”

“Yes, goddess….” His voice was already softer than the husky need of just minutes before, and Persephone felt her power stirring in her soul, called to the forefront by her King’s submission in even this small way. He did exactly as she’d commanded, moving slowly, sensually, each motion carefully orchestrated to show off his rippling musculature, mirrored and masked in the dance of his scars through his skin. Light on water, stars through clouds: he was beautiful, and he was hers.

And she would have him, all of him, tonight….

_ There will be no fear in this bed; I won’t allow it. _

_ It’s time…. _

* * *

It took his breath away to watch her approach the bed, her eyes roaming over his blatantly displayed nakedness possessively, hungrily. He was beginning to suspect his little goddess might be more easily aroused in the days following her menstrual cycle; maybe it was the hormones? He realized he had never before  _ allowed _ himself to look forward to a female partner’s monthly flow. If this dominant Queen, this wanting creature was what he could expect…?

_ I could get used to this…. _

She stopped beside the bed on his left side, her eyes roaming up from his toes, to his thighs, to his groin and the throbbing length of his cock laid on an angle across his right hip bone; she barely slowed in her raking gaze at that point, and he managed to capture his gasp as she licked her lips with a darting tongue. Her almost glowing eyes continued their journey up the scarred expanse of his abdomen, his torso, his neck and jaw, until they met his. She began twisting and tugging at the hem of her tank top, loosening the clinging fabric.

“Hades….” Her voice was still husky, powerful, commanding: a spell, a siren-song forged from the very stuff of his soul. It had to be, for how else could she be so  _ perfect _ for his needs? “Do you give me your trust to control your body tonight…?”

How could he say otherwise…? “I’m yours….”

_ …. Fuck, that blew her pupils wide the hell open! Remember that line, old man; don’t you dare forget it…. _

“Thank you. Move your right leg over toward the corner of the bed, please, angle out.” He did as commanded, and she turned toward the foot of the bed, aslant away from him now. He could only see her elegant features in almost-profile, the smooth cliff of her brow, the dainty dip and swoop of her nose. “Good. Right there. Same thing with your left leg, now.” Again he obeyed, and again she told him when she was satisfied. “Good, lover. Now, I know your shoulder is a bit tight, but I want your arms as straight out as you can get them. Good... almost there... good.” She praised him as he moved. “Not too much?” She was turned back toward him a little more fully now, and he devoured the sight of her standing almost over him with a desperation borne of more than simple lust. 

“No, goddess….”

“.... Hades, what if I told you to call me ‘Majesty’ tonight…? Would you do that for me?”

His heart, which had been thumping steadily in his chest as she instructed him with her tones so controlling, kicked into a gallop, racing now, bugling in triumph and the  _ rightness _ of her request, of her desire and his. “Absolutely, Majesty….”

She couldn’t quite hide the shiver that forced her shoulders to hunch as the power he gave to her threaded its way into her soul. She turned back toward his lower limbs again, the corner of her jaw and the hollows of her temples catching shadows from the dimmed lamps on the bedside tables and the curtained window wall across the room. “Beautiful…. I’m going to bind you now, and you’ll tell me if anything is too tight….”

She didn’t move toward the armoire where his toys and tools were stored in lockboxes; he’d given her the keypad codes a few days before, and he was pretty sure she hadn’t used them yet to peruse his stash. If she had, he’d have expected a few more questions before this. But she didn’t have the rope yet, and he hadn’t gotten permission to get it for her…. 

_ I should say something…. _

A skritchy tugging around the dips below his ankle bones, right leg first and then the left: he raised his head from the pillows, peering down his body, and his racing heart skipped a beat at the sight of dark green  _ vines _ winding around his ankles….

His eyes snapped to hers, and she was  _ smirking _ at him, the minx!

“Too tight, lover…?”

His cock twitched,  _ hard _ , as he moaned his answer. “No, Majesty….”

“Good. Head down.” 

_ “Yes, Majesty….” _ His stomach clenched as his eyes drifted closed; his entire being became consumed by the sensations of greenery called into existence and molded by the power of his Queen wrapping and binding his limbs. His fingers twitched against the sheets as more vines slithered past his hands and began to mimic their fellows, curling and nestling into place at the smallest circumference and trailing their way lazily up his calves and forearms until he  _ knew _ he wouldn’t be able to move without their -  _ her  _ \- consent.

The velvet-rough skritching finally ceased, and Hades sighed as he felt his Queen climb onto the mattress from his left side. His eyes fluttered open, finding her gaze as if he’d never looked away. He smiled in wolfish delight as she lifted the shaft of a basic vibrator into view.

“I’m going to use this on you, Hades. I want you to close your eyes and just enjoy. Let me play with you a bit….”

“I’m yours, Majesty….”

Persephone  _ moaned _ , and Hades mirrored her with a sighing groan as his eyes went dark once more; her voice was dusky shadow and moonlight rain. “ _ Fuck, lover…. _ ” The vibrator buzzed audibly to life, and Hades barely kept from thrashing as the rumbling press of the smooth plastic tip came to a tickling rest on the top of his left hip bone. “I really like hearing you call me  _ Majesty _ , Hades. Gets Queen-me all hot and bothered….”

He could only shiver out a humming purr as she trailed the buzzing toy along his V-cut; his hips gyrated slightly as she neared his groin, but she turned the toy in its path, letting more of the length of the shaft drag along the inside of his left thigh instead. The muscles in his legs jumped in unison, both limbs tensing and relaxing nearly instantly at the sudden friction and thunder. His toes curled, and the vines around his ankles tightened slightly as his joints shifted position under their velvet grip. 

“I could get used to this, too. Seeing you all tied up in my vines, body laid out for me to just… play with, however I want, for as long as I want….”

“Yes, Majesty, anything, everything, use me…!”

She hummed, sounding more clever and curious than any minx had a right to be. “Use you, huh? Why, I think I rather will….” The vibrator reversed its course just below his knee, traveling more along the top of his thigh now on its way back to his aching groin. “Tie you up and tease you all over until you’re dripping, more than you are now….” She skirted the buzzing toy up to his navel and down to his other thigh, avoiding his throbbing, thickening shaft entirely by long, empty inches of space. “Damn, lover, I like seeing that, too, how you leak when I touch you, how your cock twitches and jerks all on its own. It’s like you’re losing control of your body, and I think I fucking  _ love _ it….”

He whimpered, whined, pleaded with his gasping breaths as she spoke; he couldn’t stop his hips from twitching up and down, a little to each side in half-circling maneuvers as the vibrator in her hand approached his right knee. His arousal was terribly high already, and she  _ liked _ bringing him to such desperation.

“ _ More, Majesty, please…. _ ”

“More? Yes, I think we can do more tonight.” Her own voice was somewhat breathless now; he wished he had permission to see her, but he also found that he loathed the idea of asking for that. This mystery, this blind submission: the act of holding his eyes closed had never been more difficult, or more simple. 

If she wanted him to see her, she would say so, but until then, or unless she commanded: his body belonged to her will, and he wouldn’t do  _ anything _ to jeopardize this darkened bliss….

The buzzing thunder of the toy trailed up his thigh again, and then disappeared from his skin entirely. His hips lurched upward, chasing the sudden absence of sensation, and as his ass hit the sheets, he realized his error in obedience. Before he could beg forgiveness for his misdeed, her fingers and the vibrator were miraculously there, nestling the length of the thing between his cleft and the mattress, rumbling against his rim, his taint, and even his balls. Her fingers trailed over his scrotum as she pulled away, leaving the toy there to tease him on her behalf.

He gave a strangled shout at the delightful strangeness, squeezing his eyes shut to be sure he didn’t disobey in another way, and she chuckled rather darkly as he began to grind down against the trapped toy helplessly. 

“I thought you might like that, lover; that toy’s long enough to get all your spots at once, just about, isn’t it? Just the right size…?”

He stuttered his way through a humming agreement, hips gyrating and twitching as much as possible to gain more friction, more contact with the plastic shaft. His cock bounced a little back and forth on his abdomen, and he twisted his hands around in the grip of his Queen’s vines, inverting his fists so he could hold onto the bundled strands of greenery for dear life. 

It was maddening; it was delightful; it was creative and wicked and she’d done it all for him….

“ _ Majesty, please, please, more, please, need more, please!” _ His voice was barely there, air and not much else, but he could hear her smile as she replied.

“Yes, lover. More. We’re definitely going to do more. But first….” Her hand moved under him firmly; she grasped the toy and pulled it away from him, and he nearly sobbed as he was left untouched and twitching on the bed. “Now, now, lover: I promise, this will be worth it. Keep your eyes closed for me.”

He panted, trying to find the air to reply as his body tingled, every inch of him aware of everything and yet feeling, focusing, on nothing as she shifted away from him on the bed. “Ye-yes, Majesty….”

She had to know she was driving him mad. 

“Hades, I want you to listen to me, and remember everything I’m telling you. Can you do that for me?”

_ …. Where is this coming from…? _ “Yes, of course, Majesty, yes, I’ll remember.”

“Good. I love you. I’ve loved you since we met, and I love you more every day. You would do anything for me, and I love how careful you are with me.” The mattress shifted; it felt like she was walking on her knees across the width of the thing toward him again. He nearly trembled, the vines flexing around his limbs. “I needed that caution, that care you’ve taken with me. Tonight, I need more, too.” He felt her feet beside his hips, and then her shins. “You promised me I wouldn’t hurt, and tonight, I’m going to prove you right.”

His eyelids slammed up, his vision flickering as he snapped his neck forward to see her hips held over his, and his next breath was a ragged inhale of panic and anxiety.

“K-k-kore, but-but - ”

“You promised me it wouldn’t hurt, and it won’t. I’m positive, and this is my choice. I got you ready for me, and that got me ready for you: can’t you feel how wet I am…?”

**_Of course, of course I can, woman, but -_ **

“No, no buts. I want this. I want you. Do you want me…?”

He met her eyes; the intensity of the intangible contact streamed through him and into his soul, swamping the burning desire to be buried in her damply inviting depths. 

She made it so simple: it was always so simple with her, and he would have to be a monumental fool to deny her in this.

“ _ Yes, Majesty: I want you, in any way you want me….” _

“Thank you, Hades. I want you, this way…. My way….”

Her dainty fingers, so supple and strong, wrapped around the base of his aching shaft, and then wet, silken heat encompassed the tip of him. He moaned, couldn’t help it, as his flesh responded. She released the tension in her legs, sinking down onto him in a steady plunge of flaming silk and slick desire. Their eyes never broke contact, and when her ass settled plush and firm to his trembling thighs, he realized there were tears marking his nose and his cheekbones. 

She leaned forward, resting one hand on his sternum and the other swiping his emotions away with gentle fingertips. “Hades, I know this isn’t how you imagined it, but I needed you to  _ not _ panic about hurting me. I’m going to take the vines off now, and then I want you to show me what making love is supposed to feel like. See, though: you fit!” She wriggled slightly on top of him, and his eyes rolled back in his head at the clenching flutter of her walls around his too-hard shaft. “Are you okay, Hades…? Oh, did I hurt you?!”

He chuckled thickly, trying to swallow around the lump of emotions blocking his voice. “No, Majesty: feels  _ good _ ….”

She giggled, and that only spasmed her core around his girth. They both gasped at that, and in the potent silence following that flashing sensation, he met her eyes again. “It does feel good, Hades…. Really good…. Use my name, now, okay? I need to hear you use my name….”

“Of course, Persephone; whatever you need, anything you need. I’m yours….” She’d been drifting down toward him as he carefully enunciated his fealty; he drowned in the feel of her walls dragging  _ up _ his length just a few inches as she closed the distance between his lips and hers. Her breasts took the place of her hand on his chest, and her fingers found their homes in his sweat-misted hair as they kissed with all the passion of lifetimes still to come.

_ She trusts me; she wants me…. _

Her vines began to dissolve into an ashen dust from his wrists, his ankles, his forearms and calves.

_ She’s not afraid, and she’s a perfect fit…. _

He wrapped his arms around her back and held her close as he sat up, his abdomen clenching as his cock throbbed with the shift in position.

_ She’s perfect for me…. _

He rolled, slowly, carefully, placing her gently to the mattress beneath him and covering her softly in his shadow and warmth, all without removing himself from the heaven between her thighs.

_ Perfect…. _

* * *

Persephone drowned in Hades’ kiss, in the feel of him beginning to rise under her, this massive god taking the control she offered with her trust in his kindness, his sweet and gentle nature: he would take care of her, and she did not fear him, could never fear him.

He held her close to his body as he turned them over, inverting their previous position so her back was caught on the warm sheets and Hades covered her like a smoke and winter-scented blanket of hot flesh that felt like  _ home _ .

This: this is what it should have been….

_ No: this is what it will be like, forever. No more sticking in the past; I’m living for my future now. _

They hadn’t stopped kissing the entire time that Hades turned them over, and vaguely, Persephone was impressed at the fact that they were still connected between their legs: she thought that, surely, they’d have slipped apart, but the filling presence was still there inside her, and she thought she’d never felt so whole. 

It did stretch, and it was almost uncomfortably warm, but there were layers to this joining she’d found with Hades. It wasn’t the same as when she’d tried his toys in the shower, not at all: those were hard, unyielding, even if they did bend a little. Hades’ shaft molded inside her like her hand in a glove, or her leg in hose, or like his tongue in her mouth, hers in his, her fingers inside his ass…. And the knowledge that it was her touch, her words, her actions that had brought Hades to such filling thickness, to this delightful supple-hardness, this heat that craved her own flaming core: that was even more arousing than seeing Hades stroke his own cock for her enjoyment…. 

Hades pushed his hips forward, just a few inches, and the length of him inside her forced its way deeper: there was a little more pressure now, an almost-pain that made her gasp, but in the wake of the initial microshock, a buzzing, heady haze began to steal over her mind. Hades lips dragged over hers, spit-slick skin not quite rasping in the quiet of their bedroom; his eyes opened to hers, and she smiled at him in delighted happiness.

“Yes, Hades…. Yes….”

His irises were red, but the shine wasn’t  _ power _ , or  _ need _ : it was love, pure as diamond and bright as stars, and a few more tears escaped his lids as he tucked his face into the crook of her neck. Her hands drifted behind his neck and shoulders, holding him there, as she felt him settle on his knees and rock his hips back those same few inches. 

“Persephone….” His voice was thick, and the depth of emotion in his utterance of her name meant everything….

He was moving steadily now, back and forth, a little up and down, and pleasure that defied description began to build in ripples and churning waves in her depths. It was the thunder of pounding cascades over slate and granite, and the whisper of pines in the glen under the moon. It was the taste of plums and nectarines warm and ripe, and the echo of feta and olives and salt under the summer sun. It was life and death with every motion, potential and completion, and Persephone realized she wanted more….

This one last piece, this one image that had haunted her for weeks: she would reclaim it and erase all the pain in love and the perfection of her lover.

She bent her left knee, tucking it tightly between her chest and Hades’. It was a  _ very _ tight fit, and Hades seemed to realize she was doing something only faintly: his rhythm of rocking slowed, but didn’t quite stop. She moved her hands to his shoulders and squeezed those bunched muscles, and he pulled away from her neck to meet her eyes again. 

“Up, Hades. I wanna try something.”

He searched her eyes, seeming torn between concern that he had done something wrong and excited, hungry trust, a willingness to try and do anything to please her. Whatever he saw there must have been enough. He leaned up and away, his hands drifting around her waist to rest cupping her hips. 

Seeing Hades like that, kneeling between her legs, almost exactly like Apollo had been - it cemented her determination to make this the only memory of sex she would ever look back to. 

And she knew so many of Hades’ buttons, now….

She flattened her left foot over the softness of his belly below his ribs on that side; his gasp was hungry, and his eyes flashed a brighter, desperate crimson. Her right leg she tucked behind him, digging into the dimples above his ass cheeks; he jerked forward, thrusting into her short and sharp, and she gasped, giggling a little on the end of her surprise. Hades’ right hand began to reverently snake its way up her left thigh, and his eyes were hunting for answers in her own again.

“Yes, Hades, just like that….”

His hand moved a little quicker now, trailing up her leg, and he began stroking his shaft inside her body again, still slowly and steadily, a carefully calculated rhythm and speed that was intended purely to stoke her desire to dizzying heights. She could feel it building, spiraling and washing out from her center along her limbs in waves of warmth and indescribable sensation. It could have been fire, or it might have been ice. Was it tingling, or was it humming? It didn’t really matter:

She was watching Hades’ face as his hand approached her ankle. 

She loosened her knee joint, letting her foot slide up the ridges of his ribs without breaking contact; Hades’ steady rhythm stuttered, his hips spasming in their supple sway for a moment as he gasped loudly, his hand freezing above her ankle and merely riding along with her as she moved her foot up the planes of his chest.

Her toes, biggest and next, came to rest just at his nipple, and she curled them, watching his face go slack in awe and pleasure in the way she loved best. His head fell back, mouth open as if he didn’t have enough air, and his hand flattened over her foot, holding her there as he stepped up the pace with his hips. His left hand gripped her right hip, almost too tight, but even that felt good, layers of sensation added upon the others. She was gasping, too, panting as she watched Hades’ desire beginning to spiral out of control. It was almost a visible thing, like swirls of sparks that danced like fireflies between their bodies, skittering faster and more randomly and chaotically as their passion ricocheted higher and higher. 

Hades jerked his head forward, and Persephone knew, felt it in her spine, that he was on the edge of climaxing. His voice was a raspy shadow, lust and need and love and belonging as he whispered her name with his eyes bound to hers by everything that connected their souls.

“ _ Oh, Persephone…. _ ”

“ _ Hades… _ .” Her attention slammed back to the sensations inside her as Hades pushed forward and then froze, his shaft twitching and jerking as he trembled in the grip of her right leg’s hook around his hip. She felt even more heat inside her now, and Hades’ eyes drifted closed as he whispered her name over, and over, and over again - 

Her soul-gasm took her at the sight of Hades’ pleasure in her flesh and love, and her own body responded with a hard-clenching climax that locked her ribs around her lungs and forced her toes to curl tightly against Hades’ chest. His fingers flexed, gripping her foot in his wide palm, and she shivered with him when the first aftershocks began to twitch through his body. Her eyes closed, and a weighted feeling like a heavy winter comforter puddled over her body. 

_ That’s what it should be like…. _

Faintly, she felt a few hot-mouthed kisses making their way up her left leg, to her mound, over her belly and between her breasts.

_ That’s what it will be like, from here on out…. _

Strong arms wrapped around her chest and back, and warmth and winter-smoke and love enveloped her entire being.

_ He’s perfect for me…. _

The mattress was warm under her right arm and side, and Hades’ leg was heavy on her hip as his long nose combed through her hair and brushed along her ear and temple and forehead.

_ Perfect…. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... SHE DID THE THING!!!!
> 
> Okay, I promised discussion surrounding a grey area my betafeeshy helped me rework. It was actually the point at which Persephone climbs on top of Hades and he realizes she's about to put his cock inside her. 
> 
> I initially had him with his eyes still closed, and he felt her wet heat starting to cover his tip, and he realized he couldn't feel her teeth, so it couldn't be her mouth. Rissa helped me see that came off as a bit of dub-con grey area, and that was a no-go for the scene and work as a whole. We reworked it - Hades opened his eyes after Persephone's monologue, saw her positioned over him, and they hashed out the consent *before* she wraps her fingers around him and starts sliding down. 
> 
> .... It was what I didn't realize I needed, and for that, I have eternal gratitude....
> 
> I hope you lovelies caught the mirror aspect in Hades and Perse in the final few lines of each of their POV sections - the italics of their thoughts, framed by position changes and kisses. 
> 
> I cannot promise ongoing quick turn-arounds like I have gifted y'all the last few days, but I this will be enough to keep y'all from being too thirsty for a little while yet.
> 
> We'll see you in the shadows soon as we can....
> 
> -Swoonie and the feels-ing Muses in her headspace  
> 27 August 2020


	21. Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good day, little ones! 
> 
> This chapter comes in for a bit of a different tone, as well as incorporating more ethereal almost-obscure worldbuilding in the back half. This is mostly due to the shift in Hades and Persephone’s relationship now: we’re a few days post-first-time from Friday, and they’ve been continuing to explore and deepen their relationship in the interim. 
> 
> Warnings for the following within:
> 
> Godly power dynamics, including those exerted over mortals and those found between gods of equal footing  
> Semi-public sex - no intruders, yes the doors are locked, but still....  
> Strange-form Intimacy - split-minds, mind-sharing, and power-senses WHILST smang occurs
> 
> As always, my eternal gratitude goes to my beta-feeshy and bestie, rissaleigh49 - there's a section within that she helped me expand, kinda gave me a jump start kick in the ass to make it happen, actually.... Further deets in end note. 
> 
> Please enjoy, but enjoy responsibly!

_ Tuesday, 10:03 a.m. _

The courtroom on Floor Eleven of Tower One had always been Hades’ favorite: the dark basalt and obsidian of the railings and lecterns and the diamond-streaked marble of his throne were some of the most imposing and impressive structures he’d ever designed. The midnight-blue of the draperies and tapestries spaced around the shadows of the room added an elegance that perfectly complemented the regal staging of the space.

The custom-ordered chair to the right of his own drew the eye, stark and obvious in its placement and the  _ newness _ it exuded. No one seeing that chair would question that the intended occupant was honored, but there was also a rather… temporary feel to the thing that hinted at greater things still to come. 

Hecate had suggested  _ not _ placing so conspicuous an almost-throne; “ _ why not just wait for the real thing?”  _ she had said.

The King in his soul had bared its fangs and sharpened its claws, and Hecate had let it drop without another word. 

_ She will have everything I can give her…. _

Hades walked past the secretaries, advocates, and witnesses, all bowing in the spaces between the rows and rows of rough-carved benches; his skin tingled, responding to Persephone walking right beside him, feeling her presence like a magnet on soul. Her quiet hum as they mounted the steps to their seats stole his breath, but he managed to keep from blushing as they turned and settled to their thrones. 

Barely. 

He gave a solemn nod to the herald of the court, and the proceedings began….

* * *

Persephone listened to the herald reading off the merits and insufficiencies of the first soul presented for judging. A wealthy man in his life, he had been quite good to his primary supporters and those he considered his equal; however, he had been less than generous and far less than kind to his immediate family and those who worked directly in his home. While he was far from saintly, he also was not overtly wicked. His life had been a series of balanced actions - a good choice following a bad, a poor decision following a beneficent, and the sheer length of his life meant an overwhelming tally of choices and decisions to sift through and weigh, one against the other.

Persephone considered that maybe the Egyptian mode of weighing a heart against a feather might be simpler. 

She also couldn’t ignore the way that Hades’ attention had seemed only half aware when the herald began the session. She could feel Hades’ gaze on her intermittently, even though she studiously kept her eyes trained on the herald and the shade-in-question on the floor before their stepped dais. After a few minutes, though, she felt something change in Hades: his attention still flickered to her, but now it seemed her presence was not his primary focus any longer. Flickers of winter and magma tickled her left arm and shoulder where her carefully-pinned peplos left her skin exposed to the space between them on this elevated platform: the King was awake and paying careful watch to the display before himself on the floor of the dark and somber courtroom.

Finally, long minutes later, the herald ceased reading from the scroll of the mortal’s life and stepped backwards, leaving the shade standing alone before the dais. Hades leaned forward slightly, angling to the right, propping his elbow on the claw-carved arm of his throne and placing his fingers to his chin, as if in thought. Persephone turned her eyes on him fully; the lengthened strands of his hair were falling in an enthralling cascade over the shoulder exposed by the drape of his midnight himation. His iron circlet peeked through and around the messy shorter locks higher above his ears. 

“Ametreus, what reasoning do you give for not being more generous with your time and care to your family and immediate household staff?”

The mortal met the King’s gaze; Ametreus’ hair was thin and straggly, wisping randomly in unseen breezes. “I fed them, clothed them, housed them. My obligations to them were met.”

_ Tch. _ The sound that echoed through the room from Hades’ teeth carried worlds of judgment; Persephone shivered, though she tried to hide the tremors in a seemingly composed shifting of her position on her chair. 

“You were kinder to your hunting hounds than you were to your wife and daughters. This one aspect of your character casts shadows upon all the remainder of your pious deeds. Were it my choice alone, I would assign you to hard labor totalling no less than the combined span of years that your wife and daughters spent being all but ignored by their husband and father. However, the judgment is not mine alone any longer….”

Hades sat back in his throne, steepling his fingers and turning his head, with a gracious nod, to look at Persephone. 

If they hadn’t discussed this display and exchange yesterday, she would have been irritated, shocked, overwhelmed and anxious; as it was, she barely kept from giggling at the twinkle in his eye. 

Persephone clasped her hands before her stomach, sitting straight and elegant in her chair and inclining her head in acceptance of the role the King granted her. Her crown cut the air above her head; the weight shifted, but she knew it would not fall: it was a perfect fit, and it belonged on her head. She met the wide eyes of the disenfranchised mortal’s soul, and felt what had drawn Hades’ attention, clear as black text on a plain sheet of white paper.

The man considered women beneath him - not even a goddess drew his respect. That was the core of his dealings in his life: his wife was merely a means to an end, his daughters were spares that he had not bargained for. When he had been granted no sons, he became bitter at what he saw as the “giving away” of his gains to his daughters’ husbands and their eventual sons….

Persephone thought for a moment on how best to phrase her inquiry, so the despicable creature wouldn’t scent her trap until it closed about his ankles. “Tell me, Ametreus: we have heard of your various obeisances and rituals performed to the honor of a number of gods. We have heard of your offerings to Zeus, to Hermes, to Ares and Poseidon and even Eros…. But what honor have you paid to goddesses while you lived? To Hera, Iris, Athena and Selene and Aphrodite?”

The mortal plastered a mockery of confusion to his face that could not fully mask his contempt at the question. In the end, he simply looked constipated. “My offerings and prayers went to the Lords of Olympus and Ocean; their women had no bearing on my business and livelihood.”

The silence in the room was deafening. Ametreus’ brows lowered.  _ Oh good…. He’s finally realized he fucked up…. This is going to be fun.  _

Persephone tilted her head toward the god beside her, a soft smile of vicious-feeling amusement starting to bubble inside her soul. “I must disagree with a part of your assessment, Lord Hades. This man suffers from a deplorable lack of respect for the females in his life, including women who are of the Divine. Do you deny this, Ametreus?”

The shade spluttered something that was naught but a lie; the Queen of the Underworld snarled in the back of her mind, and the irritated fireworks in her spine told her the depth of the mortal’s deception.

“Be silent.” When the mortal continued spluttering his indignation, Persephone snapped her fingers, and the Furies darted down from the balconies all around the courtroom: Megaera wrapped a leather strap around the shade’s head, binding his mouth, while Alecto and Tisiphone each grabbed an arm and put a boot on the back of the mortal’s knees, forcing him to the floor. Megaera grabbed a knotted fistful of the shade’s straggling hair and dragged his head back, forcing him to meet Persephone’s gaze.

“A goddess told you to be silent, and you defied her. You also lied to the Queen of the Underworld. You truly do not know even the barest definition of what it means to respect someone of the female persuasion. Allow me to enlighten you, Ametreus.

“Any one of the Furies holding you right now could tear you to pieces; the three of them together could obliterate the army of vassals you held in thrall when you were alive; the three of them and myself could overrun your entire holdings within a day….” She paused, letting her words sink in, not only into the mind of the shade kneeling before her for judgment, but in the minds of everyone in this hall. 

“You will learn respect, and you will learn it from the ones you have not granted it to all through your life. I agree with the King: you will serve not one day less than the combined time your daughters and wife spent in your miserable home. If my calculations were correct, that was some one-hundred and thirty-seven years. However, rather than hard labor, you are hereby sentenced to serve the Furies in any way they see fit. You will function as their secretary, scribe, pack-donkey, janitor, cook, page…. Whatever task they set you, you will perform, and you will learn to respect them, or they will punish their servant as they see fit.”

The sisters bared their teeth in savage grins of sadistic pleasure as they began dragging the struggling man from the courtroom. Murmurs ran the length and breadth of the hall, rumbling in the tapestries and slipping into the vaulted ceilings to mingle with the shadows that gathered there like smoke….

* * *

The remainder of the cases presented for judgment after Ametreus had been dragged from the courtroom were easily dealt with - moderately good, average in their dealings and characters, each earned a simple afterlife working in one of the many subsidiaries of Underworld Corps, performing tasks similar to those they had enjoyed or found meaning from in their mortal lives. The herald of the court announced an end to the proceedings, and Hades stood, sweeping one hand in a grand gesture of dismissal. The courtroom began to empty, and Hades half-turned to his Queen, meeting her eyes and both of them attempting to hide their growing smirks.

The patter and shuffle of various beings leaving the courtroom finally faded, punctuated by a hollow thud as the doors closed behind the last of the ushers, and Persephone bent over in her chair, absolutely hooting with laughter. Hades staggered and braced his hands on the abrupted pillars rising from the back of his throne, his knees shivering with his own amusement. 

Persephone gasped, “His  _ face! _ ”

Hades couldn’t take it anymore; his knees met the stone and he dropped his face to Persephone’s cloth-covered thighs, laughing so hard tears streaked his cheeks. She wrapped her arms behind his neck, cackling still, and they let the humor sweep them away.

For a time….

He eventually raised his head, pulling back against her arms so he could find her eyes. She adjusted her grip on him, shifting her hands to rest on his shoulders instead. Her fingers twiddled through the folds of his dark himation, picking absently at the shimmering silver-thread embroidery.

“You. Were. Marvelous.” His voice rasped, and he knew it wasn’t only from the long minutes of laughing. 

She blushed, and her hands stilled. Her thighs tensed, and this close to her body, he could  _ smell _ the arousal she couldn’t quite hide. She blushed, but something coiled in her eyes: a mischief, a challenge….

And he knew he would meet her building desire in any way she chose….

“.... Are you saying, my King, that you  _ respect _ me…?”

There was a tease in her voice, a taunt and a jest, but it could not mask the needs of his Queen entirely. This was no joke, no more a laughing matter.

“With all that I am. With all that I have. I would worship the Queen of my throne.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and spun on his knees, lifting her from her temporary throne and placing her on the wide scarp of his own black seat of power. Her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth opened as if she might protest, but he  _ felt _ it when the Queen she was asserted  _ her _ will over the milder protests Kore might have raised.

He knelt at her feet, tied tenderly into bleached flax-strapped sandals by his own hands just this morning, and he gazed up at her in rapture. She should have been dwarfed by the sheer massiveness and austere lines of his throne, but from his position below her, she  _ towered _ over him, regal and majestic and  _ everything _ . 

His fingers drifted down the lines of her waist, her hips, dipping toward the undersides of her thighs, and he let the question hover in his eyes.

“Yes, Hades…. But only if you can lock the doors from her- ” The bolts slammed home in their casings, echoing through the empty stone chamber, and his Queen smiled, all teeth and savage beauty. “What are you waiting for, then…?”

He pulled her by her thighs to the edge of his throne; she gasped, but he knew it was excitement and not pain. They’d spent the entire weekend continuing to become more and more familiar with each other’s bodies, and the hesitations and fears he and she had both harbored for so long were continuing to melt away.

She was more than living up to her power as a fertility goddess, and Hades only felt lucky that he was who she chose to give her what she needed.

His hands clawed the drape of her peplos up, bunching it around her waist and holding it there as he groaned in the waft of heat that met his open mouth. She’d left her underwear drawer open; he’d  _ assumed _ she’d put on panties.

He leaned forward, bowing to his worship and kissing her mound, brushing his lips over her curls as he moved lower. Her thighs moved farther apart, granting his shoulders the space he needed, and then her belly clenched. He peeked his eyes up, wondering what she needed, and found his answer when her bent knees suddenly dropped into place over the lines of his shoulders. Her heels thumped a little on his back, the swell of her calves melted against his shoulder blades, and he huffed out a hungry breath as he molded his mouth to the shape of her dripping cleft. 

She sighed, the sound utterly content, and he felt a flush shiver all over his body; he knew where he belonged, and she wanted him there….

He began to work his tongue and lips in the rhythms he knew she liked - long and slow and then short and sharp, swirl here, bump there,  _ just _ a touch of teeth when he adjusted his chin there. Every move he made was echoed with a dig of her strap-bound heel into his back, or an involuntary quiver of her thigh against his collarbone, or a delicate scrape of her fingers on his arm. Every offering of devotion he gave her, she returned with quiet moans of passion and earthy gasps of pleasure. 

The taste of her was ambrosia, honey, fire and summerwine and a hint of darksome earth. She was soft and malleable beneath his hands, but her thighs and calves pincered his body, claiming him for her own use with a strength he could not deny. Her song of surrender was entrancing, a spell woven from the depths of his soul and brought into being to ensorcel him to her will.

Happily, he would surrender; eagerly, he would be bound. 

The power woven into his throne echoed his desire, grounding him and sending him soaring as he worshipped his Queen. Her hands suddenly tangled in his hair, knocking his coronet askew; he tilted his head back and opened his eyes to see hers, wide and glistening and sparking with magic, staring at him. 

A question, then, or the impression of an inquiry, flickering along the edges of his mind: she was panting too hard to ask, and couldn’t find the words to do so. He opened his mind to her, letting her feel what was happening to them as they came together on his throne:

Swirls of shadows, unseen and unable to be touched, that marked his power - they writhed and danced from his body into the air, melting together with the billowing clouds that coalesced around his throne. 

Dancing strands of a lighter-toned power, hers, but altered from how she’d always thought of them - there were shadows hiding beneath the brightness, and it was the shadows that molded her light and carried it along their coasting paths. 

Their energies, their gifts, power, realms of influence, their souls - both and all learning to dance together, drawing from the Underworld’s very existence and becoming  _ more _ \- and all of this centered around the well and magnet of his throne, one of his bonded connections to his role as the King of this Realm of Time and Shadow….

He could never have explained it at any other time; it would be hard enough to attempt to dissect it later this evening, as he knew they would attempt to over dinner. 

But the King needed to taste her power on his throne, so that he could craft her throne and imbue it with the magic that would bind to her seamlessly, effortlessly, enhancing and deepening her connection to this Realm that claimed her and called to her as its Queen.

Her head flew back with a sharp cry as he pressed his tongue into her depths, as her release took her over and the power they shared swirled around them in insubstantial waves and streams and strands. Her legs tightened on his body, aching and sending tremors through him and into the stone beneath his knees. 

The room reverberated, and he growled into her flesh, desperate now for more, for all of her. He pulled his hands from her waist and dragged the folds of his robe up and away, tucking them behind his back and holding them there with one hand. He pulled his tongue from her body and leaned back, his other hand stroking her thigh as she pulled her legs off his shoulders. She turned, kneeling on the seat of his throne now; he growled again, softly, as he leaned over her and the seat of his power. 

She wrapped her hands around the top of his throne and peered over her shoulder at him, the loop of her peplos slipping down the silken curve of her arm. She licked her lips and then bit the lower one, and he covered her mouth with his. His free hand pulled his throbbing cock from behind the linen of his undergarment, guiding his shaft into her by touch alone. Inside of her, in this liquid silk and feathery flame, he felt  _ alive _ ….

He rocked into her, carefully, unable to fully pull back for the desperation of being buried within her once more. She panted against his chin between hungry sucking kisses, and together they moved in the smallest of ways that brought the most sensation and enjoyment to them both. 

Their bodies and souls danced together, as deeply connected as possible, until her power overrode his resolve and he spilled into her without warning, gasping against her forehead as the hunger dissolved in blinding spasms of ecstasy….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First note: Ametreus is based from μέτριος, metrios, “moderate or mediocre”.
> 
> Second note: The section where Persephone questions Ametreus only took the final shape presented here because of Rissa's input. It was initially a much shorter, less in-depth section, and I am very pleased and grateful with the final product she helped me craft.
> 
> Thirdly, and this is out of the ordinary for me....
> 
> I must offer worlds-worth of gratitude to one reader in particular, RandomBella, who commented a few days ago on Dread20, inquiring so sweetly and eagerly if I was going to be continuing this piece/series. I will admit, this piece is both nearly my favorite - and also one that haunts me, because of the struggles I've been through earlier on in the crafting of it. It is both my demon and my heart-song, and sometimes I find myself hiding from it, instead of embracing it fully. 
> 
> Bella, you truly may never know how very much your comment and enthusiasm meant to me. It was *exactly* what my heart and Muses needed. I will try to keep the momentum going, because you're right.
> 
> It needs to be finished....
> 
> With all of that said - this next "part" of Dread Curiosities (this chapter and the following few) will take a more.... streamlined tack. Each chapter will be more concise and condensed, and there will most likely also continue to be time-gaps in-story, as various plot points come to light and find their resolutions. 
> 
> The next chapter (I hope) will return us to a shadowy office elsewhere in the Underworld, and we shall spend some more time with Voulos. Please recall that Voulos, while an intentionally-crafted creepy character, is not evil, per se, and he does NOT represent the vast majority of mental health professionals. I always advocate for mental health care - Voulos is a necessary character, but there will be resolution found surrounding the comments he made to and about Persephone. 
> 
> Once more, thank you for taking this journey into the shadows of my headspace, and I'll try not to be dissolute for so long this time....
> 
> Enjoy the night, and happy hump day!
> 
> -Swoonie and the worldbuildy Muses in her headspace  
> 18 November 2020, appx 12:40 pm central time


	22. Erased

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's been a while, and I don't even have any smang for you this time...
> 
> Next chapter - HONEST!
> 
> (We also have to wait a while yet for more with creep-master Voulos - Muses insist there's other components to do first...)
> 
> This chapter does need a few warnings:
> 
> The pictures Apollo took of Persephone are dealt with, and therefore Apollo and the rape are mentioned - but nothing is discussed in detail. 
> 
> And we do have an episode of dementia surfacing, and the anxiety and panic surrounding that. 
> 
> We have lots of world-building and character development this chapter - enjoy, my little ones! We're excited to see you in the darkness again!
> 
> So much gratitude to my betafeeshy, rissaleigh49 - enthusiasm, grammaticals, and easter-egg hunting extraordinaire!

_ Two weeks later, Wednesday morning, around eight o’clock... _

Persephone twined her hair around itself and threaded the pin into place before nodding at her reflection. The bun wasn’t too severe, but the entire look was definitely more  _ corporate _ than her usual style. As she turned from the mirror, her silhouette reminded her vaguely of Hera.

_ Sure, the color scheme is entirely off, but… _

Persephone chuckled to herself, remembering the times she’d been a toddling girl and Hera had let her wear her own crowns. How fitting the Queen of Olympus’ choice had been, even if at the time it had been only pretend.

She closed her eyes,  _ reaching _ through the darknesses of the Underworld’s very being, and brought her crown through the empty spaces separating her from her jewelry stand in the walk-in closet. It wasn’t more than thirty feet or so, but her triumph was monumental as she successfully closed her fingers around the metal band and drew it forth from a virtual nothingness.

Her victorious joy dimmed slightly as she realized it would be far later in the evening before she could have a chance to show Hades her progress in that department. She fingered the folded note in the front pocket of her flared-leg charcoal slacks, thinking back over the words her beloved had left for her on his rumpled pillow this morning.

_ Sweetness, _

_ I know we talked about it last night, but it still seemed callous to leave before you woke without something to remind and promise you anew. I’ll be gone most of the day. You won’t be able to reach me by phone, but I swear this is both necessary and worth it. The throne demands, and we must serve.  _

_ If you truly need me, you can summon me the traditional way; but nothing today should prove too much for the Queen of the Underworld to handle. I believe in you, darling Persephone, and I am eager to see you again tonight.  _

_ Good luck (not that you need it) with your meetings today, and if anyone gives you any flack… _

_ Well, judgment is in your hands, my darksome Queen. _

_ Oli mou i agapi, _

_ Aidoneus _

It warmed her heart that he’d thought to write the note; he was so thoughtful, so caring and devoted, and that only reinforced her belief that whatever secret task he’d left to accomplish was - as he’d said - both necessary and worth the melodrama. He wouldn’t be gone where she could not follow, doing she knew not what, for a whole day without a definite, Kingly cause. 

_ He’ll tell me eventually; when the time is right, I know he will.  _

_ For now… _

_ I’ve got Queen things to handle. _

* * *

Persephone locked her phone as she stepped from the elevator into the lowest floor of Tower Three; the directory app was accurate, after all, Hecate’s warnings about glitches and lag be damned. The hallway here was slightly more monochrome than many of the other halls and rooms she’d become used to here at Underworld Corps’ main complexes: a solid heather grey, and the cold of the Realm seemed… concentrated, somehow. 

_ Not intense like Tartarus, but… Intentional, for a purpose…? _

The single door at the other end of the hall from the elevator should have been intimidating, but there was a sense of refuge in this buried level of the tower. Persephone thought back to Hades’ realm of influence, how much he gave of himself to ensure others felt secure and cared for, even if they didn’t know the source of their protection.

_ Will I ever be even half the monarch he is? _

_ Enough moping! Things to handle: start with this one! _

Persephone approached the single solid-metal door and placed her thumb to the scan-pad beside the handle. The latch uttered a  _ snick-tch _ , and the door swung easily to her touch.

She entered a room, much like the Library and Archives in Tower One; but where those shelves were loaded elbow-deep with scrolls and sheaves of parchment, these stacks were made of glass-shielded cabinets full of glowing lights, dials, knobs, gears, and switches. Persephone let herself stare as she walked down the main aisle - which was discernible only by its width and the obviousness of its position directly in front of the door.

_ It’s like a forest, but it’s a forest of machines and data!  _

She felt awed and inspired by the symphony of computers and terminals surrounding her as she penetrated deeper into the labyrinth. She wondered dimly if this was anything close to what Hades said he’d felt when he’d seen her version of Spring last year. The individual terminals and modules were like the fields of the Mortal Realm; the switches and feeds, discs and keys were nearly analogous to the plants and vines she’d chosen on whim and instinct to place in those fields; the screens with their blinking lights and racing lines of code were the flowers and pollen and eventual seed and fruit for which her power merely laid the stage…

Even the soundscape was almost  _ alive _ with all its randomly timed clicks and whirs and beeps, the hums and purrs and thrumming burr of pins and belts and gears!

A mild voice in a low register mumbled from ahead of her; Persephone turned her attention to the suddenly-open space in front of her, a glowing array of monitors and reflective pinboards creating a temple of light in the labyrinth of the servers and modems all around. 

“How may I help you, Lady Persephone?” The speaker spun around in a normal-style cushioned office chair, rising to his…

_ Ohhhhhh… _

Persephone jerked her gaze up to the god’s face instead of staring at the space where his sculpted steel spring-blades met the gleaming tiles, like her traitor-eyes wanted to do. He was a copper-amber color that was unlike anything Persephone had ever seen before, and he wore square-framed wire-rimmed glasses that drew attention to the chiseled lines of his jaw and cheeks. He was bald, or nearly there: a faint shadow covered his skull, including a predominant widows-peak perfectly centered above his sharp brows. His eyes were yellow, but though her jaw clenched with an initial gut-reaction of fear for the resemblance, she began to smile as the differences became immediately clear.

Hephaestus’ eyes were the kindly gold of a fire’s warmth, not the blaring aggressiveness of a predator’s sun…

Persephone gave herself an internal shake and answered her lover’s nephew. “Hello, Hephaestus. Lord Hades told me you could do absolutely anything with computers and phones and technology like that. I have a… Well, I’m not sure if it’s possible, but I have something I need to try to track down, and if possible, erase entirely from existence. Do you think you can help me?”

The god raised his left arm, and Persephone barely caught herself before she covered her mouth with her hands. The god’s entire arm seemed to be made of gold, though it moved like native flesh and bone. When she had asked her lover the night before if he knew a way for her to get rid of the pictures Apollo had taken of her, Hades had both told her of his nephew and warned her that Hephaestus had been injured many years before; and that though he was rather reclusive, one of the only things he couldn’t stand was pity. Persephone schooled her expression to stoic non-curiosity as Hephaestus rubbed his golden fingers under his nose, as if trying not to sneeze.

“If it’s digital code, we can do that, yes. If it’s physical matter, the laws of the conservation of energy say we can’t. What do you need erased?”

Persephone fought hard not to let her jaw hang open; she wasn’t some stupid village girl, surely she could understand techie-speak!?

“Um, photographs? But they were on someone else’s phone, and he may have backed them up to the, um, cloud? I’m not sure, really, but - ”

Persephone trailed off as Hephaestus sat back down and swiveled to face a massive keyboard without another word. She stood there for a moment before moving slowly up to the god’s right side, watching his hands - both robotic and natural - flying over the keys. His eyes flicked back and forth between a few screens in front of him, barely blinking, and Persephone struggled to follow the command prompts he typed and sent into cyberspace with lightning speed.

From the corner of her eye, something tickled along her awareness. She fought the urge to turn and look; surely, that would be rude, to pry into the god’s other tasks while he was busy doing … who knew what about her own request, but…

Why did it feel like she was being watched?!

She slid her eyes to the right without turning her head, and then flinched and turned in surprise at the teal-colored nymph peering at her from a number of screens in this oasis of technology. The nymph leaned away from the various unseen camera lenses at the same time, smirking softly, and placed a pointed finger over her lips. Her rainbow irises danced, and Persephone stifled a giggle.

Before she squawked and whipped back around; Hephaestus’ living hand hovered over where he’d tapped her elbow to get her attention, and he seemed to stare transfixed at her right earlobe.

“To whom does the phone belong? The one that took the pictures you want erased?”

Persephone swallowed and said, softly, “Apollo.” It burned her throat a little to say it, but the sting faded relatively quickly. 

Hephaestus returned to his keyboard, and Persephone smiled conspiratorially as the screen-nymph’s rainbow eyes appeared, closer to Hephaestus’ command-prompt monitors. She thought how lifelike the simulation appeared; she could almost believe an actual being was trapped within the digital universe. The interactivity was incredible; the program seemed to be able to track her movements, to respond to her actions. She waved meekly from her hip, and the screen-nymph beamed, gleaming teeth and glowing eyes alight with happiness and mirth.

“Aetna, we’re going to initialize a search in a moment; I’ll need you on watch for redundancy and duplication of data points.” Persephone found herself marveling at the murmuring quality of the god’s voice; his words were all one volume, each sound precisely the same length and pitch as the next. It was melodic in a monotonous way, like how a spring breeze can blow so steadily and consistently that even a goddess will forget it’s there.

_ But who is Aetna?! _

“You got it, boss!” Persephone startled again as the screen-nymph responded to Hephaestus perkily, twirling into frame and settling herself on an invisible surface near the god’s command-prompt windows. Her eyes blinked from other screens and other angles, and Persephone realized that the screen-nymph - Aetna - was an artificial intelligence program. She’d read a few articles months before about the concept; it had been fascinating to consider what concepts and characteristics of actual living beings could be replicated in an artificial, information-technology form.

_ … And Hephaestus has one that’s so life-like it can play with me while working in the background for him… _

_ He’s a genius…! _

“Lady Persephone, do you know what day the pictures were taken? It would help us to be able to track down the original files and then trace duplicates if we had the earliest possible date of origin.”

Persephone told him the date; it was strange, but Hephaestus somehow impersonal affect made it easier than she had thought it would be. She wondered: if Hephaestus needed to view the pictures to verify which files he needed to delete, would that hurt her? Or would his … cool, mechanical nature make it seem like far less of an ordeal than it was, and would that make it easier to deal with.

“Done.” Persephone glanced at Hephaestus’ face, his glowing golden eyes focused on the glittering screens, before she looked at the displays. 

A handful of .png icons were highlighted on the monitor, without any kind of preview to indicate what the full image would look like. Persephone noted the file information beneath each icon: especially the  **Duplicate** tag, which indicated each image had been copied and saved in other locations four times apiece…

_ … It feels surreal, but that’s it… The last of it, the last reminders… And then I’ll never have to worry about it again… _

“Delete them, Hephaestus…”

A few sharp keystrokes clacked, and then the god pushed his chair away from the desktop, his prosthetic legs grating across the tile. She looked at him, feeling both Queen’s-anger and a quieter sadness: why wouldn’t he do what she’d asked him to?!

Hephaestus met her eyes, and she wondered why it seemed to hurt him to do so. His voice still held that steady, flat quality, but something thrummed behind his words, inside the fire of his eyes. “... You should erase them, your Majesty…” He turned his head away, staring pointedly at the Enter key, immobile as a statue.

_ … It  _ **_should_ ** _ be me… _

Persephone pushed the key with her right index finger, and by the time she looked up at the monitor again, there was nothing to see but Aetna’s rainbow swirling eyes and a half-feral grin of victory that mirrored her own. The blinking lights and glowing screens all around her suddenly felt like a hearth in winter: warm and comforting, peaceful and welcoming. 

_ It’s done; entirely, completely, finally done! _

“Thank you, Hephaestus.” Persephone straightened and turned to fully face the seated god, pouring as much of her relief and gratitude into her voice as she could. The man didn’t meet her eyes, but he nodded once, rather decisively, in acceptance of her thanks all the same. “I suppose I’ll head back, then; meetings and all. Is there anything I can do for you? A favor, or an exchange?”

_ That _ seemed to amuse the god; he huffed softly and his eyes crinkled at the corners before he flicked his gaze to Persephone’s face for a brief second before moving his eyes to somewhere near her elbow. “If I demanded payment for every task, Aetna would be buried under spreadsheets.” Over the god’s metal shoulder, the AI nymph herself mimed falling to the ground and swatting her hands at invisible papers and folders. Persephone laughed at the smirking program as Hephaestus continued speaking. “I’m salaried, so this kind of thing is part of my job: to perform services to the Crown and maintain the technological infrastructure. It’s what I do, Lady Persephone.” He shrugged in a studied manner, but Persephone was nearly certain in her deepest self that there was more pride in the god than self-deprecation. 

“Well, job or not, I am grateful to you all the same. That has been worrying me for a few weeks, and I’m glad to be rid of that… fear entirely now, thanks to you. If you ever do need anything outside your normal job description or compensation, please let me know, so that I may return the favor.” Hephaestus nodded again, that same deliberate single motion, and Persephone decided it was time to take her leave. “Good day, Hephaestus.” She was nearly out of the oasis of light in the forest of technology when whispered arguing behind her overwhelmed her curiosity. 

She half-turned back to see Hephaestus  _ glaring _ at a glowering Aetna; rainbow eyes flashed defiantly at hardened amber orbs, and both living and programmed mouths moved blurring fast as the god argued with his creation. 

Persephone startled as Hephaestus rose swiftly to his feet and turned abruptly to face her. His prosthetic legs tapped solidly on the tiles as he approached her with a closed, flat expression on his face. “Aetna says it would be more polite for me to walk you out.”

“Oh! No, I’m fine, I can find the door again; please don’t trouble yourself.”

“It’s more trouble if I don’t; Aetna will be buggy all day.” Hephaestus peeked at her askance as he stopped beside her, a small grin lifting the corner of his mouth. Persephone stared up at him for a blank moment before she registered the pun.

“... Well we certainly don’t want your assistant to get her gears in a twist, do we?”

Hephaestus actually laughed at that as he started walking down the wide aisle between the towers and screens, and Persephone jogged to catch up as his longer legs carried him away from her. The door filtered out of the shadows before Hephaestus had caught his breath, and he drifted to a stop with his metal fingers on the handle and his living hand extended to Persephone.

“That was a good one, Lady Persephone. I enjoyed meeting you.”

“Likewise, Hephaestus, and just Persephone would be fine.”

Another nod, matched by a single handshake, and Hephaestus opened the door for Persephone to leave his sanctuary. She gave the shy god a beaming smile as she entered the monochromatic hallway, but she let it fall from her lips as he stared with undisguised fear into the hall behind her. 

“Hi there, I was wondering if you were -” Persephone startled at another male voice from the hall, spinning and hovering into the air as Hypnos backed away from her with his hands held before his chest in surrender. “Sorry, Pinkie, didn’t mean to scare ya; I was just trying to -”

The door she’d just come through slammed behind her, and she spun again, feeling her heart galloping behind her ribs. She drifted to the floor and turned to Hypnos again as the tattooed god sighed slowly. There was a defeated look in his kaleidoscope eyes, and perhaps it was a trick of the muted light, but even the iridescent starburst tattoos on his right cheekbone seemed dull. 

“Hypnos, did you need something from Hephaestus? I could get you in there, you know, perks of being royalty now…?” She let her query trail off, knowing somehow that the god wouldn’t actually take her up on it.

Death’s twin raised an ink-covered arm and scratched behind his head, ruffling his icy hair so it shifted like a cloud around his ears. “Not  _ need _ , but… I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I guess. Every time I’m back home, I try to come see him, but he runs from me like I’m the plague! I just wanna know what I did wrong, or what I didn’t do, so I can fix it! It shouldn’t bug me so much, but… Well, I don’t like thinking I hurt the guy somehow, you know?” His rainbow eyes searched fitfully for answers in her own, and she smiled gently as she placed a hand on his back and took him with her to the elevator. 

* * *

Persephone groaned out a sigh as she collapsed onto the couch in her office; she flung one arm over her eyes and ripped her crown from her hair with the other. Her feet were aching as she plopped them onto the arm of the couch. She wondered if Hades would very much mind giving her a bit of massage when they both got home and settled…

_ Who am I kidding? Of  _ **_course_ ** _ he wouldn’t mind! _

She smiled as her body relaxed a little more fully into the couch. 

_ Only an hour and a half to go, and then I can get home to the babies and my lover… _

After leaving Hephaestus’ sanctuary with the melancholy Hypnos, the rest of her morning and afternoon had been spent dealing with a number of meetings. Hecate had attended fully half of them with her, but the older goddess had - by design - only offered insight and advice when called upon. By Persephone’s own request, Hecate and Hades had prepared her with all the background information she would need to head those meetings as a Queen in full…

But she hadn’t fully appreciated just how  _ exhausting _ working through 5 separate meetings with Payroll, Marketing, Personnel, Public Relations, and Facilities Management would actually be!

_ … Mama never seems worn out after a day dealing with her staff… Although, a single-product agricultural operation is hardly comparable to the functioning of an entire Realm. Mama calls it her Empire, but I’m beginning to think she doesn’t even know the meaning of the word! _

_ And for all her talk of my inheriting the company one day, she never really taught me how to actually run a business… I learned more from Hecate today than I did in ten years with Mama… _

It had been impressive to watch Hecate in the Facilities Management meeting. By far, that was the arena Persephone felt least capable of handling this early on in her career. The vast amount of information on the various levels and layers of infrastructure involved in managing just  _ one _ of the Towers…

Persephone had taken copious notes about how Hecate streamlined the flow of her presentation about upgrades,  _ status quo _ , and phase-outs of obsolete systems; how the goddess had tactfully postponed discussions on topics she wasn’t ready to address; how she’d brought the warring factions of plumbing and ventilation into alignment with a minimum of discomfort and strain; how the chaos-loving deity had somehow organized  _ everything _ in a single hour that Persephone had struggled to comprehend for a week. 

_ I can learn a lot from her… _

_ I wonder if Mama knew just how great Hecate is at this kind of stuff? She never let Hecate anywhere near the fields; I bet Hecate could have got the nymphs organized for a lot more than berry picking contests, if Mama’d given her half a chance… _

The temperature in her office suddenly plummeted, and Persephone sat up so quickly she could almost feel her brain sloshing inside her skull. The room was pitch dark, freezing with swirling currents of air that felt like waves of dust and smoke. A faint icy glow appeared high above her in the middle of the room, sweeping back and forth, and whispers flowed around the room like ghosts. The darkness began to coalesce, and Persephone breathed shallowly as Erebus materialized in the middle of her office. 

The ancient being’s shadow-dripping wings were wide-spread, and he was half-crouched, long legs bent as if he’d spring in any direction at a blink. He spun slowly, first left, then right, his five blue-glowing eyes muted behind their dusky shield of power. 

_ Is he… looking for something…? _

The whispers faded until Persephone could almost ignore them, though they still tickled her ears with microscopic hints of not-quite-sound. She opened her mouth to speak to the Primordial, and he froze, staring at her in undisguised terror, as if he’d only just realized she was there. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he swallowed and rasped out, “ _ Where is she…? _ ”

“... Nyx? Are you looking for Nyx?” The ancient god nodded violently, his wide eyes frantic and desperate on her face. “Well, I’m not entirely sure, Erebus. She hasn’t been here. Did something happen?” Persephone kept her voice quiet, soothing; if she needed to, she could summon Hades, but she thought she knew part of the problem here. Erebus reminded her strongly of an old man in the village closest to her mother’s temple; he’d gotten lost once, and couldn’t even remember how he’d come to their fields…

“Don’t know… Can’t…” Erebus’ face fell, confusion palpable in the way his eyes shifted from her to the corners of the room and all around. “... She wasn’t there, and I… I don’t remember…” His deep voice cracked repeatedly, his words broken by halting silences and fractured breaths. 

“... Would you like to wait here for her, Erebus? I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” Persephone patted the couch cushion beside her, then half-jumped out of her skin as Erebus materialized in a burst of shadows, curled beside her like a puppy. His wings were smashed against the cushions behind them, and his cheek hovered over her thighs; he seemed uncertain of his welcome, so she gently stroked his hair in reassurance. 

He lowered his head to her lap with a sniffling sigh, and she placed her crown on the arm of the couch so she could soothe the confused Primordial with both hands…

* * *

Persephone leaned back about fifteen minutes later as Erebus pushed himself up to a seated position beside her. He stared at the coffee table before their knees, his own bent high against his chest with how low the couch was to the floor. His bare feet curled and flexed on the charcoal carpet; Persephone stifled her curiosity at how dark his nails were. Did he paint them, or was that a natural color?!

“Thank you, little Queen. I’m sorry if I scared you…” The ancient being’s voice was hollow, drained, but he seemed to be making an effort to exert control again. She touched his elbow with her fingertips, uncertain herself how much contact would be welcome now. “That doesn’t happen often; we didn’t think I’d… She went fishing Above, and I forgot… Sometimes I forget…”

A few tears escaped the corners of the two-and-a-half eyes she could see from this side of him; the pain in his voice was tangible. She felt her throat tighten in response as she swallowed. “It’s okay, Erebus. I’m glad I could be here to help.”

“... I think I was looking for the boy, but… is he Above, too?” Erebus turned his head a fraction toward her, and Persephone shrugged, pulling her hand back from his elbow. 

“I’m not sure exactly where he is, but I don’t think he’s in the Mortal Realm or Olympus. He said I’d only be able to reach him by a traditional summoning today, if I needed him.”

“Oh, yes, not Above then. That’s probably why I panicked so badly; I can’t feel him in the Between Spaces…”

“... Between Spaces…?” Persephone felt her Queen-self’s attention sharpen. She tried to muffle the eager tone in her voice, but Erebus turned to her, smirking, his eyes swirling ice behind his veil of shadow. 

“Yes, hungry little Queen. The Between Spaces are neither here, nor there, nor other. They are Between, and some beings can access them to work wonders. In the Between Spaces, things are energy only, and therefore are their truest selves. A creation made in the Between Spaces will be bound to the very essence of things, unseverable and eternal and pure in every aspect. Something destroyed in the Between Spaces will cease to be, as if it never was, and every connection ever made to the thing will be severed as well.” Erebus tilted his head, his pale hair drifting like snow onto his bony shoulder. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you could reach the Between Spaces when you’re older, but be cautious. They are just as dangerous as they are wondrous.”

Persephone’s mind was reeling as Erebus rose fluidly to his feet. She belatedly stood as well, unsure whether she should offer to stay with Erebus until Nyx returned, or - 

“Don’t worry, little Queen. I’m well now, and I’m returning straight home to wait for my Night. Thank you for helping me. I am so very glad you are the one the boy chose to stand beside him…” Erebus turned away and stepped through a pillar of shadow, disappearing from her reality and leaving her unsteady on her feet. 

_ … Well, that was a  _ **_hell_ ** _ of a first solo day as Queen…! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot was happening here, huh?
> 
> The Greek texts translates as "All my love."
> 
> Hephaestus is indeed written intentionally as autistic, and we WILL revisit him later on to figure out why he was so scared of Hypnos... Guesses welcome! I was so glad we got him canonically a few weeks ago, to work him into my universe here...
> 
> (Did y'all catch the shift in Hades' note to Persephone, how it seemed like we were hearing from both King Hades and Aidoneus the sweetling? Go read again, pwease, darlings!)
> 
> Next chapter will be this day from Hades' POV, and finishing up the evening with his Queen after they both make it home. 
> 
> And I do promise some smootery...
> 
> Hopefully some Voulos after that!
> 
> Much love, little ones, and we'll see you in our shadows soon!
> 
> -Swoonie  
> 19 February 2021

**Author's Note:**

> Ever and always, comments, kudos, and all else are as yogurt to my soul. (To understand that reference, please read my Primordial Lore series, thank you.) 
> 
> Additionally, if you have a particular kink or scenario you would like to see occur in Dread Curiosities, please feel free to mention in comments, or come find me in the official Lore Olympus Discord Server! My handle is the same, you can tell them in the fanfic channel Swoonie sent you! I accept requests/prompts/suggestions via private DMs there, or in the main chat feed with an @ to alert me.... 
> 
> https://discord.gg/loreolympus


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